


Running Across Time

by GhostGrapes



Series: Lexi Winchester; The Girl Who Ran Across Time [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Supernatural
Genre: Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, F/F, F/M, Heaven, Hell, Hunters & Hunting, M/M, Matchmaker TARDIS, Meddling TARDIS, Multi, Non-human Original Female Character, TARDIS - Freeform, Time Travel, Winchester Sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-06-11 20:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15323946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGrapes/pseuds/GhostGrapes
Summary: After the Death of her elder brother, Dean, Alexis Winchester had had enough. In her twenty-eight years of life, she had lost too much for any normal person to stay sane - Fortunately, her job didn’t require much sanity.Deciding that she could no longer stay where her brother had died, Lexi called an old friend for help and moved to his flat in London, England. For four months, she lived as a normal civilian, until the day a strange man with an equally strange blue box swept into her life and took her on a whirlwind adventure that never seemed to end. Through adventure and excitement, danger and fury, loss and heartbreak, Lexi juggles her life in the TARDIS and her Hunting life precariously.Alexis Winchester, The Girl Who Ran Across Time with A Mad Man with a Box.





	1. Running Away

It had been almost four months since Alexis Winchester fled America, running from the death of her older brother, Dean. Four months since she had spoken a word to anyone back home, but she still moved forward. She took a break from hunting as she lived with a good friend of hers, Alec Montgomery, in London, England. Lexi had met Alec when she was younger, both of their fathers were hunters, but Alec’s father had decided to move to England, wanting to get away from the violence that he had lived with his entire life. They had tried to keep in contact, but it had been almost impossible for them, so they lost touch.

It wasn’t until her older brother had been dragged down to Hell by Hellhounds, and her younger brother had begun sleeping with a demon, that Lexi used the phone number that Alec had given her all those years ago. She hadn’t been sure that it would work, but she had been very hopeful that it would connect her with one of her best friends from her childhood.

“Hello?”

“H-hi. Is Alec Montgomery there?” Lexi stuttered, feeling tears running down her cheeks as she leaned against her brother’s car, wanting nothing more than for him to be there with her. To wipe her tears and make a fool of himself until she stopped crying.

“Yes, this is he. Who’s asking?”

“Oh thank God…” Lexi breathed as she ran her fingers through her hair, looking up at the stars above her. “It’s-um… it’s Alexis Winchester. I’m not sure if you remember me-”

“Lexi?” Alec’s awed voice cut her off, causing more tears to run down her face.

“H-hey.” She stuttered, her breathing slightly ragged.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“I um… not really.” Lexi sighed, knowing that she couldn’t lie to him. He had been her best friend for years, John and Alec’s father carting them around the country together. “A lot of stuff has happened the past couple years and-and something even worse happened and I don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, well, do you want me to fly out? I can be wherever you are by tomorrow night.” Lexi laughed hollowly.

“No, don’t.” She took a shuddering breath, “I was wondering if I could come and stay with you?”

“Really?” Alec sounded shocked and confused. “I thought the Winchesters stayed tog-”

“That’s why I need to get away, Alec. Not all of us are here anymore.” After Lexi had called Alec, he had booked her a flight and she had gathered her things. Lexi had had no interest in saying goodbye to Sam, knowing that he was probably in the middle of his ‘special time’ with Ruby, so she had written a short note and left it on the driver's seat of the Impala. She hadn’t said much, since she had nothing pleasant to say to him, but it had said enough.

After saying her final farewell to the Impala, the place that had been her home for most of her childhood, Lexi had hot-wired a car and drove to the nearest airport.


	2. Lexi

Almost four months after Lexi’s move to London, she was rudely awoken by her alarm clock, something she believed should be shot and burned. With a displeased groan, the dirty blonde hunter rolled out of bed and threw on the first clean clothing she saw, which happened to be a tank top, one of Dean’s henleys and a pair of blue jeans. Out of habit, Lexi grabbed her gun and a few knives, concealing them on her person before looking at herself in the full-length mirror. Although the thought of her older brother still made her cry, she had taken many of her favourite shirts and jackets of his, happy that she at least had something of his to remember him by. She had also taken the bracelet she had given him when they were children, but that had been something Sam had taken off his body, believing that they should have something of Dean. Lexi hadn’t agreed, but Sam had refused to listen.

 

After getting dressed and lacing up her combat boots, Lexi quickly ran a brush through her hair and rushed to the kitchen, thanking Alec when she saw that he had made her breakfast. He had been doing that every morning since she had arrived.

 

Once Lexi had eaten, she grabbed her jacket and ran out the door, yelling a quick “Bye, see you later!” as she closed the door.

 

After leaving their flat at Powell Estate, Lexi took the bus to Central London, hopping off when they arrived at the department store that she worked at. After Lexi had arrived in England, she had decided that she couldn’t live off of Alec’s kindness, so she had gotten a job at Henrick’s, department store that she had never heard of before. At first, she had been a little stumped, since she had no prior working experience, besides hunting down monsters and some criminal behaviour that went with the job. But after forging a few documents, like she and Dean did together quite frequently when making new government IDs to impersonate officers, Lexi had been able to create a CV that she thought was quite impressive.

 

Throughout the day, Lexi had folded clothes and helped customers find whatever they needed. At lunch, Lexi had met up with Alec’s other best friend, Rose, who had welcomed Lexi warmly into their little family. The girls joked around and Rose did her best to keep Lexi smiling, which was not hard when she was a genuinely funny person.

 

When it was time to return to work, Lexi had surprised Rose by hugging her before she ran off, unsure if she had initiated a hug too early in their friendship. Lexi had never been good with touch or relationships, having only been around her family, who were all men, for almost her entire life.

 

“This is a customer announcement. The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you.” When Lexi heard the announcement, she sighed happily and grabbed her jacket from her locker and followed the other girls to the door, only to be stopped by the guard, who was holding the lottery money. Sending an annoyed glare at him, Lexi snatched the money and made her way to the elevator, grumbling obscenities under her breath. Once the elevator, or  _ lift _ , as Alec and Rose constantly corrected her, had arrived, she stepped in and pressed the button in annoyance, hitting it more aggressively that necessary.

 

When the doors opened, revealing the basement, Lexi sighed in annoyance and stepped out, making her way down to where the money was supposed to go. “Wilson?” She called, knocking on the door that read:  _ H. P. Wilson, CEO _ . “Wilson, I’ve got the lottery money. Come take it so that I can leave.”

 

When he didn’t answer, Lexi went to bang on the door, only to freeze when she heard a clattering noise further down the hall. Shoving the bag in her pocket, Lexi pulled out her gun and clicked off the safety, slowly making her way down the hallway.

 

“Who’s there?” She called, looking around and constantly looking over her shoulder as she approached the store room, hearing a few noises coming from there. Keeping her gun raised, Lexi quickly opened the door to the store room and cursed when she saw that it was dark. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the flashlight she always carried, clicking it on and entering the room. Within the beam of her flashlight, Lexi saw boxes of clothes and dressed dummies. “Oh Dean, if you could see this. You would scream.” Lexi murmured under her breath, remembering when they had been children and they had been playing in an old warehouse. Dean had been hiding behind some dummies and they had fallen on him, causing him to freak out. Although he never admitted it, Lexi always knew that he was a little uneasy around them. Continuing into the room, Lexi suddenly jumped and turned around when the door slammed shut. Cursing under her breath, she ran to the door and tried to open it, but nothing happened. 

 

“Awesome.” She grumbled, quickly turning back around and aiming her gun when she heard noises once more. “Whoever, or whatever, you are, come out! I won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt me!” She called, rolling her eyes at herself when she realized how stupid that had sounded.

 

Moving forward, her gun still raised, Lexi’s steps faltered when she saw one of the dummies’ heads moved to look at her before slowly stepping towards her. “Holy shit, this cannot be happening.” Lexi gasped as the dummies behind it started moving towards her. “No. This cannot be happening today.” She muttered before straightening her stance as she continued stepping backwards, her gun never wavering. “Look, I’m not enjoying whatever this little joke is, so can you cut it out?”

 

More of the dummies started moving towards Lexi as she kept backing away from them. She kept backing up until her back his a wall, causing her heart to stop. “Shit. Shit, friggin’ hell. Balls.” She swore as the lead dummy raised its arm, which made her clench her jaw and aim her gun between its eyes as her other hand searched for the door handle. 

 

Instead of finding a handle, however, Lexi’s hand was enclosed in someone else’s causing her to whip around and aim her gun at the person, only to see a man in a leather jacket that was smiling at her. “Run.”

 

The man tugged on her hand and pulled her down the hall, away from the dummies. As they ran down the hall, Lexi periodically looked back, groaning in annoyance when she saw one of them was getting too close for comfort. Aiming her gun, Lexi quickly fired off two shots, causing it to stumble and fall back. “Nice shot.” The man commented as he dragged her around the corner and into the lift. Once inside, Lexi pulled her hand out of the man’s grip and moved to the other side of the lift, never taking her eyes off of him as the lead dummy stuck its arm through the doors and he began to tug. After several tugs, the man pulled the arm off and the doors closed.

 

“You pulled its arm off.” Lexi commented, her eyebrow raised as she clicked the safety on her gun and tucked it back into the back of her jeans, covering it with her shirt and jacket.

 

“Yep. Plastic.” He replied with a smile, rocking happily on his feet as he watched the numbers on the screen change.

 

“Right. So, what were they, then?”

 

“What do you mean?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

 

Rolling her eyes, Lexi realized that that was what the ‘I-know-more-than-you’ look looked like from the outside. “They weren’t human, that much is obvious. So, what kind of creature were they?”

 

“Why do you think they weren’t human?” He asked, causing her to roll her eyes once more.

 

“Fine. Be an ass.” She huffed. “What about Wilson? Did they get him?”

 

“Who’s Wilson?” He asked in confusion.

 

“Chief electrician.”

 

“Wilson’s dead.” The man said simply as the doors opened and he stepped out, Lexi following behind him.

 

“Lovely.” Lexi sighed, running her fingers through her hair as the man turned back to the doors and pointed a tubular device with a light at the end at the control panel for the lift. 

 

“Hold on. Mind your eyes.” As he spoke, there was a strange noise before the panel sparked and exploded.

 

“I hate this.” Lexi muttered to herself as the man passed her and opened the door nearby. “So, who are you, then? And what were those things down there? I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

 

“They’re made of plastic.” The man replied, turning around to face her. “Living plastic creatures. They’re being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn’t have this.” He pulled out a small bomb that made Lexi raise her eyebrows at him, impressed. “So, I’m going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don’t worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast.” Lexi scrunched her nose at the idea, “Don’t tell anyone about this, because if you do, you’ll get them killed.” 

 

Before she could respond, the man shut the door and she stood there staring at it with narrowed eyes. Not a moment later, the door opened again and the man popped his head out, still smiling. “I’m the Doctor, by the way. What’s your name?”

 

“Lexi.” 

 

“Nice to meet you, Lexi.” The man, the Doctor replied before pulling the bomb back out and shaking it cheerfully, “Run for your life!”

 

The door shut again and Lexi blinked, “What the hell just happened.”

 

Making her way outside, Lexi walked quickly down the street, keeping her distance from the shop windows. After almost being hit by a taxi as she ran across the street, Lexi jumped when the upper floor of Henrick’s exploded. Shaking her head and rolling her neck, Lexi turned and began to run home, wanting go to bed and go back to the time when things were simple.

 

||||||||||

 

Back at the Montgomery-Winchester flat, Lexi had been bombarded by questions and then had a cup of tea thrust into her hands by Alec, who seemed like a nervous wreck.

 

“ _ The whole of Central London had been closed off as police investigate the fire. Early reports indicate-” _ Lexi had been watching BBC News 24, slumped on the settee, but the report was cut off by Alec’s voice.

 

“I know, it’s on the telly!” Alec exclaimed to his father as he walked into the room. Unlike Lexi, Alec had a very good relationship with his father, who was still alive. “It’s everywhere. She’s lucky to be alive!” Lexi rolled her eyes and grumbled insults at Alec under her breath as Rose came rushing in. 

 

“I’ve been phoning your mobile. You could’ve been dead! It’s on the news and everything!” Rose exclaimed, practically launching herself onto Lexi, who held her tea out of the way with practiced precision. She had grown up with her brothers, mostly Dean, launching himself at her at random moments, trying to make her fumble whatever she was holding. It had become a sort of sport between the three of them that she had mastered.

 

“I’m alright, honestly. I’ve been through a lot worse than that.” Lexi assured her, awkwardly patting her back. “Don’t make a fuss.”

 

“Well, what happened?”

 

“I don’t know!” Lexi lied as Rose rolled off of her, sitting next to her and making grabby hands for her tea, which Lexi reluctantly relinquished.

 

“What was it though? What caused it?” She pressed, causing Lexi to roll her eyes. 

 

“I wasn’t in the building, Rose. I was outside. I didn’t see anything.” 

 

Rose rolled her eyes at the lack of information and stood to go talk to Alec, which gave Lexi a moment to breathe. As the two of them talked, Lexi pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through the contacts, her finger hovering over Dean’s name. It had become a habit of hers, calling Dean’s phone and telling his voicemail about her day.

 

“Why don’t we go to the pub?” Rose pulled Lexi out of her thoughts, causing the blonde to drop her phone.

 

“Uh… what?”

 

“Pub? You, me, Alec? You deserve a proper drink, not tea!”

 

Lexi grimaced. She didn’t like drinking that much anymore, not when it made her remember her brother. “Maybe not, but you guys go. Plus, Mickey will probably steal Alec away to watch the game.”

 

Alec frowned at her, noticing her sad expression, but didn’t mention it. “Alright, but only if you promise that you’ll eat something while we’re out.”

 

Lexi rolled her eyes and saluted mockingly, “Yessir.”

 

Alec chuckled fondly and escorted Rose out, only to backtrack when Lexi called his name. “What?”

 

“Can you get rid of that?” She asked, pointing to the dummy arm that she had brought home, somehow forgetting it was in her hand until she got home.

 

“Yes, dear.” He teased, picking up the arm and waving goodbye to her before leaving the flat with Rose to meet Mickey, Rose’s boyfriend, at the nearby pub.  

 

Once they were gone, Lexi picked up her phone and locked it before turning her attention back to the television, hoping to hear the end of the broadcast.

 

“ _ Fire then spread throughout the store. Fifteen fire crews are in attendance, though it’s thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure. _ ”

 

||||||||||

 

The following morning, Lexi awoke to her alarm, which had been rendered useless, as she had no job to go to. Unfortunately, after years of only sleeping a few hours, Lexi’s mind was already wide awake and ready for the day, which annoyed her.

 

After getting out of bed, having a shower, and getting dressed, Lexi made her way out into the common area of the flat and threw herself onto the sofa, smiling in thanks when Alec passed her a cup of tea.

 

“You could try Finch’s. They’ve always got openings.” Alec suggested as Lexi sipped on her tea. She had never been fond of it back home, but it had slowly grown on her during her time in England.

 

“Trying to get away from blood and dead things, Alec.” She reminded him, scrunching her nose at the thought of working at a butchers. She was used to the killing part, but she had no interest in cutting up dead things and selling them to people.

 

“Ah, maybe not.” Alec agreed, nodding absently before standing and made his way to his room. “I’m still not sure why you keep insisting you need a job, though. We have more than enough money with the money I inherited when we got here.”

 

Sighing, Lexi went to take a sip of her tea, only to stop when she heard a rattling at the door. She knew that it wasn’t Rose, as she had a job interview her mum had set up that day. Pulling the knife she always kept in her boot out, Lexi stood and silently made her way to the door, kneeling down when she got there. Studying the cat flap that she had screwed shut not a week after she had arrived, Lexi saw that the screws were on the floor, which made her nervous. Poking at the flap with her knife, Lexi saw that the Doctor was on the other side, which caused her to huff and stand up wrenching open the door.

 

“What’re you doing here?” He asked, a confused frown on his face.

 

“I live here.”

 

“Well, what do you do that for?”

 

“Running away from my issues.” She said flatly, “I’m only here at the moment because somebody blew up my job.”

 

“I must have got the wrong signal. You’re not plastic, are you?” The Doctor reached forward to tap her forehead, but Lexi snatched his wrist and gripped her knife tighter. “Right, not plastic. Bye, then.” He went to leave, but Lexi opened the door wider and tugged on his wrist, pulling him into the flat.

 

“You. Inside. Right now.” Closing the door behind her, Lexi could hear Alec step out of his room.

 

“Who’s this?”

 

“It’s about last night. He’s a part of the investigation. Give us ten minutes.” Lexi quickly lied, pushing Alec into his room and closing the door. 

 

“Who’s that, then?”

 

“Best friend. He’s letting me crash here until I get my head back on right.” Lexi sighed as she walked into the kitchen. “Don’t mind the mess, he’s a slob. You want coffee?”

 

“Might as well, thanks. Just milk.” Lexi nodded and started making the coffee, clearing her throat when she remembered all the times she had been on coffee duty. She and her brothers had always argued over who would have to get coffee. It was usually Dean, but Lexi always went with him. Shaking her head, Lexi listened as the Doctor wandered around the living room, poking around. “That won’t last, he’s gay and she’s an alien… Hmm. Sad ending… Alexis Winchester… Ah, could’ve been worse. Look at the ears! … Luck be the lady… maybe not.”

 

Entering the room, Lexi rolled her eyes when she saw playing cards on the floor. “I want you to explain everything.”

 

“I-” The cat flap rattled and the Doctor frowned, “What’s that, then? You got a cat?”

 

Lexi shook her head as she set down the mugs of coffee, “No. Alec said that he did have some, but they’re all strays. They come in off the estate, apparently. Never been a fan of cats myself, though.”

 

Looking over at the Doctor, Lext gasped when she saw the plastic arm from the day before, the one that Alec had thrown out, seemed to be strangling the Doctor. Pulling her knife back out, Lexi looked for a way to kill it. Not finding a safe way to do so, she shoved her knife back in her boot and wrapped her hands around the arm, joining the Doctor in trying to get it off. With their combined effort, they pulled the hand away from the Doctor’s throat, only to stumble and fall onto the couch. Without missing a beat, the Doctor pulled out the device she had seen him use the day before and jabbed it into the dummie’s palm. After a few seconds, the fingers stopped flexing and the Doctor sighed in relief, clambering off of Lexi. Raising an eyebrow at him, Lexi stood as well, still holding the arm.

 

“It’s all right, I’ve stopped it. See? Armless.” 

 

“Do you think?” Lexi asked sarcastically, hitting him with the arm.

 

“Ow!” He whined, rubbing his arm. Rolling her eyes, Lexi stalked after him as he fled the flat, following him down the stairs. 

 

“Hey! Hold on a minute. You can’t just leave!”

 

The Doctor turned to look at her with a smirk, “Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, leaving. See you.”

 

“That arm, those creatures. They’re a threat to people, which means I need you to tell me what’s going on.” 

 

“No, I don’t.” The Doctor retorted, pushing open the door to the outside.

 

“If you don’t, then I’ll have to investigate myself.”

 

“Is that supposed to sound tough?” The Doctor mocked looking over at Lexi with an amused expression, making her even more annoyed with him than she had been before.

 

“I’m being serious, Doctor. When you leave, or whatever the hell it is you do, people like me are the ones here to keep people safe.” When he didn’t respond, Lexi rolled her eyes once more, deciding to switch subjects. “Okay. Who are you, then?”

 

“Told you. The Doctor.”

 

“Yeah, but Doctor what, exactly?”

 

“Just the Doctor.”

 

“The Doctor.” Lexi deadpanned, her eyes narrowed at him.

 

“Hello!” He smiled over at her.

 

Lexi snorted, “Is that supposed to sound impressive?”

 

“Sort of, yeah.”

 

“Come on, then. You can tell me, I’ve seen way too much to be scared of whatever it is you’re involved with.”

 

“I’m just passing through, I’m a long way from home.” 

 

“Why did it come back to my apartment? Was it after me?” Lexi asked, earning a huff of laughter from the man.

 

“Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you.” He mocked, “You were just an accident. You got in the way, that’s all.”

 

Lexi scoffed, “Wow, thanks for the sentiment.”

 

“It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is ‘cos you’ve met me.”

 

“So, the world revolves around you, then?”

 

“Sort of, yeah.”

 

“You’re completely full of it, man.”

 

“Sort of, yeah.”

 

“But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?”

 

“No one.”

 

“You’re all of your own?”

 

“Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there’s a war going on.”

 

“We must be talking about other things, then. I know there’s a war going on that civilians don’t know about, but not the one that you’re talking about.” Lexi said, sending an annoyed look at the Doctor. “How did you kill that?”

 

“The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead.”

 

“What? Like radio control or something?” The Doctor shook his head.

 

“Thought control.” When Lexi frowned, the Doctor raised an eyebrow at ther. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah, I’ve dealt with a lot worse.” Lexi brushed him off, “So, who’s controlling it, then?”

 

“Long story.”

 

“You sound like an arrogant prick, you know that?” She snapped, running a hand through her hair as they continued down the street. Lexi wasn’t sure where they were going, but she did know that he was going to run off soon.

 

“They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you.” The Doctor said after a few minutes of silence, making Lexi frown at him once more. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. “Do you believe me?”

 

“No.”

 

“But you’re still listening.” Lexi stopped walking and just stared at him.

 

“Who are you really, Doctor?”

 

The Doctor stopped walking and turned to face the blonde. He considered her for a moment before stepping forward and taking her hand, which made her tense. “Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It’s like when you were a kid. This first time they tell you the world’s turning and you just can’t quite believe it because everything looks like it’s standing still. I can can feel it, the turn of the Earth.” As Lexi held his hand, she could feel the Earth spinning. She could feel herself moving through space, and it made her feel smaller than ever. “The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We’re falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go.” The Doctor dropped her hand and the spinning stopped, making her let out a gasp. “That’s who I am. Now, forget me, Alexis Winchester. Go home.”

 

Taking the arm from her, the Doctor turned and crossed the street, leaving her on the sidewalk. Frowning once more, Lexi walked away, pulling out her cell phone and dialing Dean’s number.

 

“ _ Hey, you’ve reached Dean Winchester. I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your name, number, and nightmare at the tone. _ ” Lexi let out a laugh that was mixed with a sob. She had dared him to have something stupid as his voicemail message, and that was as stupid as he was willing to go.

 

“H-hey De. I-um… I just… I just wanted to hear your voice again.” She paused, wiping a few tears from her cheeks. “I-um… I’ve had an interesting few days. I met a man that is even crazier than us, which is really saying something. He came in and saved me, which was shocking, especially when I had no idea what the hell was going on. It’s like… it’s like there’s this whole other world out there. It’s like a veil has been lifted from my eyes. There’s more than just monsters out there, Dean. There’s things that none of Bobby’s books could have ever told us, and it’s incredible.” Lexi stopped her ramble and sighed, knowing she had to hang up soon. “I-uh… I guess I just wanted to say that I miss you and that I love you so much, even if you hate chick flick moments.” She took another shuddering breath. “Goodbye, Dean.”

 

||||||||||

 

The Doctor slipped into the TARDIS, turning the arm over in his hands before setting it down on the console. Plugging the wires he had set up earlier into it, he set the TARDIS to begin tracking it. Once he was sure it was tracking the Nestene Consciousness, he sat down on the jump seat and thought about Lexi. From the moment he had seen her, he had wanted to know more. “Alexis Winchester… who are you?” He murmured to himself, crossing his arms over his chest. “Alexis Winchester, I’ve heard that name before.” He said aloud before shaking his head and standing, looking up at the time rotor. “Can you do a scan?” He asked the TARDIS.

 

_ Of course, my Thief.  _ She replied telepathically, something he had only just discovered during the Time War. Nodding in thanks, the Doctor moved to the screen and watched as images and a few articles crossed the screen. As the images stopped racing across the screen, the Doctor’s attention was caught by an article that read:  _ Lawrence House Fire Kills Wife and Mother. _ Cocking his head, the doctor skimmed the article, his eyes widening when he saw that Lexi’s mother had been killed, while she, her father, and two brothers had made it out alive.

 

“Is there anything else?” The TARDIS chimed and images of Lexi and her brothers at various ages appeared on the screen. It wasn’t until a file appeared with a familiar symbol on it that the Doctor froze, somewhat concerned as to what he might find. When he read the file, however, he was even more shocked that he had originally anticipated. “A Hunter? She can’t be!” 

 

_ You can trust her. _

 

The Doctor frowned, looking up at the rotor, the place he looked when he talked to his TARDIS. “She kills people!”

 

_ She kills creatures that have killed innocents, she is no more evil than you are. _

 

The Doctor froze as a picture of a very young Lexi with who he assumed to be her brothers and father. Lexi was sitting on her father’s lap, a young boy on their father’s other knee. Next to Lexi, holding her hand, was a blond boy that looked a year or two older than her. The four of them seemed happy, Lexi seemed to have a light in her eyes that was no longer there.

 

_ Trust her. _ She whispered in his mind, letting a calming feeling flow over him.

 

“Why should I? What makes her so important?” The Doctor asked, unhappy that his TARDIS was plotting something.

 

The TARDIS made a noise that was reminiscent of a frustrated sigh before she flooded his mind with images. 

 

**_Lexi sat in the back of an old sports car, giggling as her older brother told her a silly story._ **

 

**_Lexi, Sam, and Dean ran across a bridge, a car following them._ **

 

**_Lexi, Dean, and an older man in a baseball cap ran towards Sam, yelling for him._ **

 

**_Lexi stood on top of a crate, shooting at a creature in the dark, yelling with tears in her eyes._ **

 

**_Lexi holding a bloodied body in her arms, rocking back and forth as she screamed and sobbed, refusing to let go of it._ **

 

“She saves people.” The Doctor murmured, leaning against the console.

 

_ Trust her. _

 

Nodding absently, the Doctor grinned to himself and spun around flipping switches and turning dials. 

 

It was time to ask her a very important question.

 

||||||||||

 

Lexi sat in her room, typing quickly at her computer. She had been held up in her room for hours, finding anything that she could on the Doctor, which was a lot more difficult than she originally thought it would be. At first, she had done a simple search, but had only found a website made by a man named Clive. It hadn’t had much information on it, but she had no interest in speaking to him, not when his website made him seem like a stalker.

 

During Lexi’s time as a hunter, she had turned hacking into a game between herself and her younger brother, Sam. Although they never really seen eye to eye, they had always bonded over academics. In doing so, Lexi had become very good at hacking into places that were hard to hack into.

 

Smirking to herself as many images from Clive’s server, the man that owned the website, popped up, Lexi began sorting through them, happy when she found descriptions of each image. Knowing that it would be best to just copy the files and end her connection to his computer, Lexi did just that, happy that she had been able to beat her original time.

 

“Okay… let’s see what we’ve got.” She muttered to herself, combing through the documents on her screen. “Political diaries, conspiracy theories… ghost stories? Geez, this guy might actually be crazy.” Looking further, Lexi read through Clive’s notes, raising an eyebrow when she saw what he had written.

 

**No first name and no last name. Just the Doctor. Always the Doctor.**

**The title seems to be passed down from father to son. Possibly an inheritance?**

 

“Okay, let’s see what else you’ve got.” Going through many blurred and recognizable images, Lexi finally found the original copy of the image from the website. The image depicted President Kennedy’s cortege going through Dallas. Scanning the crowds, Lexi stopped when she saw the Doctor standing in the crowd. “November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of Kennedy, and he was there… how?”

 

Continuing through the files, Lexi pulled up another image. Glancing at the picture, Lxi quickly pulled up the description Clive had written. 

 

**April 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend.**

**Taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic.**

**For some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived.**

 

Looking back at the photo, Lexi saw the Doctor standing next to the family. “Did he tell them what would happen to it? But how did he know? Nobody knew that the Titanic would sink!” Growing frustrated, Lexi clicked on an image of a sketch. 

 

**Washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded.**

 

Sighing in annoyance, Lexi began closing the windows that contained the images, only to stop when she saw a note that made her freeze.

 

**The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he’s here. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion. Death.**

 

**I think he’s the same man.**

**I think he’s immortal.**

**I think he’s an alien from another world.**

 

Lexi slammed her laptop shut and threw it next to her on the bed, running her fingers through her hair. She had never believed in aliens. Monsters? No problem. But never aliens. There had never been any proof in life beyond Earth, so she and her siblings had elected to not believe in it.

 

Needing something to take her mind off of the Doctor, Lexi grabbed her phone from her nightstand and clicked on Rose’s name as she stood and shrugged on her coat. As the phone rang, Lexi grabbed her keys and left the flat.

 

“ _ Hello? _ ”

 

“Hey, Rosie. I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch or something?” Lexi asked, cursing herself when her voice cracked.

 

“ _ What’s wrong? _ ”

 

“I’ve just had a very strange day and I found out some stuff that I don’t really want to believe are true.”

 

“ _ Is this about the Doctor? _ ” Lexi froze in her steps. How did Rose know about him?

 

“How-”

 

“ _ I was on my way to meet Alec so that he could drive me to work this morning and I passed you on the other side of the street. You guys seemed to be arguing or something. _ ”

 

Lexi let out a breath, “Yeah, but I was hoping to take my mind off of it. Is that alright?”

 

“ _ Yeah! Let’s meet at the usual place. I’m paying. _ ” Before Lexi could argue, Rose hung up the phone.

 

||||||||||

 

When Lexi arrived at the restaurant, she saw that Rose was already sitting down, although not in their usual seat. Looking around the restaurant, the hunter saw that their usual booth was free, which made Lexi tense. Whatever was waiting for her was not her friend.

 

Steeling herself, Lexi strode over to the table and sat across from the imposter, noticing how shiny she looked. “Hey, Rose.”

 

“Hellllllooo, Leexi.”

 

Quirking an eyebrow, Lexi decided to begin talking, hoping that the thing in front of her would say something that would confirm her suspicions. “So, now that I’m jobless, where do you think I should apply? I mean, I could apply anywhere and just fake the records, but that would be tedious, especially if I end up going back home. What do you think?”

 

“So, where did you meet this Doctor?” Lexi carefully pulled her knife out of her boot, clutching it in her lap.

 

“I’m trying to figure out my next big life choices here, Rose. You could help.”

 

“Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Did he have something to do with that?”

 

“No.”

 

“Come on.”

 

“Possibly.” Lexi baited, gripping her knife even tighter.

 

“What was he doing there?”

 

“I’m not talking about it, Rose. I came here to get away from all of the madness, not to get back into it. Especially if he’s as dangerous as I read about.”

 

“But you can trust me, mate. Pal, buddy, mate, buddy. You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he’s planning, and I can help you Lexi. Because that’s all I really want to do, mate, buddy, buddy, pal, mate.”

 

“What’s wrong with you, Rosie? Did something happen?”

 

Suddenly, a waiter appeared next to Rose and held out a bottle of champagne. “Your champagne.”

 

“We didn’t order any champagne.” Not-Rose snapped, making Lexi quirk an eyebrow. Rose never snapped at waitstaff, especially since she knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of rude customers. “Where’s the Doctor?”

 

The waiter moved to Lexi’s side of the table and held out the champagne, “Madam, your champagne.”

 

“It’s not ours.” Lexi told him, pausing for a moment when she remembered a very important detail.  _ Our waiter didn’t have a Northern accent. _ Smirking to herself, Lexi continued playing dumb. “Rosie, what’s wrong? What happened?”

 

“I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?” 

 

“Doesn’t anybody want this champagne?” The man beside Lexi whined, causing her to snicker under her breath, tucking her knife away in her boot as she pulled her gun out of the waistband of her jeans, concealing it under the table.

 

“Look, we didn’t order it-” Not-Rose looked up at saw that the waiter was the Doctor, which made her face curl into a smirk. “Ah. Gotcha.”

 

Shaking the bottle vigorously, the Doctor smiled down at Lexi, excitement gleaming in his eyes. “Don’t mind me. I’m just toasting the happy friendship. On the house!” The Doctor released the cage around the cork and it flew into Not-Rose’s forehead. Once it was absorbed, the Doctor set down the bottle put his hands on Lexi’s upper-arms, tugging at her to move backwards. Watching as the thing before her seemed to chew the cork, Lexi stood slowly and allowed the Doctor to pull her to his side, her gun still clutched in her hand.

 

Spitting the cork out, Not-Rose leaned forward and smirked. “Anyway.”  

 

Suddenly, she stood up and her hand turned into some sort of chopper, destroying the table. Moving from Lexi’s side, the Doctor lunged forward and grabbed Not-Rose around her neck, pulling its head off. Looking at the head, Lexi jumped back when its eyes opened and it smirked. 

 

“Don’t think that’s going to stop me.” The body rose from its place on the floor and began flailing around. 

 

Cursing under her breath, Lexi looked around and saw that most of the patrons were still there. Rolling her eyes at their stupidity, Lexi aimed her gun in the air and fired off two shots. “Everybody get out! Out now! Get out!”

 

As soon as she was sure that everyone was out, Lexi grabbed the Doctor’s arm and dragged him off towards the kitchens, firing off another two shots at the headless body to ensure that it was following them. Running through the kitchen and down a hallway, Lexi felt a sort of glee at the feeling of running for her life. Se hadn’t had to do anything like that since she had moved to London, and she had really missed it.

 

Throwing open the door to the outside, Lexi stopped a little bit away from it, turning and pointing her gun at the door that the Doctor was pointing his strange device at.

 

“How are we getting out?” She asked him, watching as he turned and frowned at her gun. Realizing that she was pointing it at him, Lexi rolled her eyes and lowered it, clicking the safety on. “So. Escaping? Can you unlock the gate with your tube-device thing?”

 

“Sonic screwdriver.” The Doctor corrected as he strode to the strange blue box that sat in the middle of the area they stood in.

 

“Are you gonna use it?”

 

“Nah.” The Doctor said, making Lexi scoff and shove her gun in the waistband of her jeans. “Tell you what, let’s go in here.”

 

“This is so not the time for your cryptic bullshit, Doctor!” Lexi yelled as he entered the box, leaving the door open. Groaning in annoyance, Lexi glanced back at the door, which had begun to break open, before running into the box and closing the door. As soon as the doors were closed, Lexi looked up and froze, seeing that she was suddenly in a large room with something that looked like a console in the centre.

 

“Um… ignoring the fact that this place is impossible, is that thing going to get in? The door is made of wood.”

 

“The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn’t get through that door, and believe me, they’ve tried.” The Doctor said as he rounded the console, plugging wires into the head and pressing buttons on the console. 

 

“Genghis Khan,” Lexi mused, approaching the console. “This is definitely alien.”

 

“Yep.”

 

“And you are too.”

 

“Yeah.” The Doctor replied, turning to look at her with a small expression of worry. “Is that alright?”

 

“As long as you don’t try to kill me or something.” Lexi said with a smirk, running her hand along the console as she approached the Doctor. “I’ve seen ghosts, werewolves, and women in white. I’ve met demons and watched hellhounds hunt people down. But this… this makes everything that I’ve ever seen seem like a different world. It’s awesome!” Looking around the room, Lexi finally let herself think about the impossibility of the room she was in. “This box… it’s um… it’s bigger on the inside.”

 

“She’s called the TARDIS.” The Doctor explained, a fond smile on his face as he patted one of the coral structures. “T-A-R-I-D-S. TIme And Relative Dimension In Space.”

 

“TARDIS.” Lexi repeated to herself as she admired the ship. She had never seen anything like it, and she couldn’t believe that she was seeing it. “She’s beautiful.”

 

Looking over at the Doctor, Lexi gasped when she heard a pleased hum in the back of her mind. Blinking at him in confusion, Lexi watched as the Doctor chuckled to himself, patting the console. “She likes you.”

 

Looking down at the ground, Lexi smiled to herself before she stopped, her eyes flying up to look at the plastic creature’s head that was plugged into the console. “Those plastic things, what did they do to Rose? Did they kill her?”

 

“Oh,” The Doctor frowned, cocking his head thoughtfully. “Didn’t think of that.”

 

“Of course not.” Lexi huffed, running her fingers through her hair. “An innocent girl in front of you that has never seen anything like this before and you didn’t think.” Rolling her eyes at him, she looked back at the head and frowned. “Is that supposed to be melting?”

 

“Melt?” The Doctor echoed, following Lexi’s gaze. “Oh, no, no, no!”

 

Jumping into action, the Doctor ran around the console, pushing buttons, flipping switches, and doing things that Lexi couldn’t begin to fathom. As a wheezing and whirring noise filled the room, Lexi leaned against one of the coral structures and looked up at the ceiling. “You would flip your shit if you could see this, Dean.” Focussing back on the task at hand, Lexi frowned when the Doctor ran past her. “Hey!” She called after him, following him out the door, freezing in the doorway when she saw the Thames. “We moved.”

 

“Disappeared there, reappeared here.” The Doctor said absently as he paced in front of the TARDIS, frustration clear on his face.

 

“Right… need to get over that.” She sighed before looking back into the TARDIS, seeing the melted head. “If the head melted, what happened to the body?”

 

“It melted too.” He said before stopping and staring at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You’re not talking very much. Usually people talk more.”

 

Lexi snorted and shook her head. “I’m a Hunter, I’m used to weird.” The Doctor just stared at her, making Lexi roll her eyes and switch topics. “If you’re an alien, how come you sound like you’re from the North?”

 

“Lots of planets have a north.” 

 

“Seriously, do you enjoy being a cryptic asshole?” Lexi muttered, shaking her head before stepping out of the doorway and closing the door behind her. “What’s with the police box?”

 

“It’s a disguise.”

 

“They’re from the 1950s, Doctor. This is 2008, England doesn’t have those anymore” The Doctor chuckled at Lexi’s tone as he looked around them. When he didn’t answer, Lexi sighed and continued trying to get some sort of information out of him. “What about this living plastic? What does it want?”

 

“It loves you lot. You’ve got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs.” The Doctor explained, finally looking back at the blonde. “Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!”

 

Lexi cocked her head at the mention of a war, but decided against mentioning it. “Is there any way of stopping it?”

 

Grinning brightly, the Doctor pulled a vial of blue liquid out of his pocket. “Anti-plastic!”

 

“Anti-plastic.” Lexi repeated doubtfully. She was used to much different kinds of weapons.

 

“Anti-plastic!” He agreed, his excited expression making Lexi chuckle. “But we’ve got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?”

 

“ _ Small? _ ” Lexi scoffed, “Hide what?”

 

“The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal.”

 

“What would this transmitter look like?”

 

“Like a transmitter.” The Doctor replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London.” As the Doctor looked around them, Lexi sniggered at him, looking at the London Eye. “A circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we’re standing. Must be completely invisible-” The Doctor stopped and frowned at Lexi, finally realizing that she was laughing at him. “What?” Instead of responding, Lexi laughed even harder. “What?”

 

He kept turning back forth between Lexi and the skyline, not seeing what was right in front of him. Unable to stop laughing, Lexi moved to his side, took his hand, and pointed at the London Eye. 

 

“Oh.” He muttered to himself before turning to Lexi with a large smile on his face. “Fantastic!”

 

Squeezing Lexi’s hand, the Doctor took off, pulling Lexi across the Westminster Bridge. While they ran, Lexi could feel the wind in her hair and the adrenaline pumping through her veins, it made her feel alive for the first time in months.

 

“Think of it, plastic all over the world, everything waiting to come alive.” The Doctor said when they finally stopped on the other side of the bridge. “The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables-”

 

“The breast implants.” Lexi muttered, snickering to herself.

 

“Still, we’ve found the transmitter.” The Doctor continued, ignoring Lexi’s comment. “The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath.”

 

As the Doctor spoke, Lexi let go of his hand and wandered down the sidewalk, peering over the railing “What about down here?” She called to the Doctor, smirking when he jogged over to her.

 

“Looks good to me.” He agreed as they looked down at the large manhole entrance at the bottom of the stairs. Taking her hand once more, the Doctor led Lexi downstairs. When they arrived at the manhole, they pulled open the manhole entrance and peered down into it, seeing red light.

 

Without glancing at the Doctor, Lexi climbed down the ladder and pulled out her gun and torch. Doing a quick scan of the room, Lexi went to step forward, only for the Doctor to put his hand on hers and lower her gun.

 

“No guns.” He murmured to her, watching as she sighed and clicked the safety on, shoving it into her waistband.

 

Giving the man an exasperated look, Lexi raised her torch and continued forward, scanning everything as moved about the room. Going down a flight of stairs and into a multi-level chamber, Lexi turned off her torch when she saw that the room was bright enough to see.

 

“The Nestene Consciousness.” The Doctor explained Lexi’s unspoken question when they arrived at a railing, staring down into a vat of… something. “That’s it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature.”

 

“What’s the plan, then? Tip in your anti-plastic and go?”

 

“I’m not here to kill it.” The Doctor said, shaking his head. “I’ve got to give it a chance.” Nodding, Lexi watched as the Doctor made his way down to the catwalk that overlooked the seething vat. “I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.”The Consciousness in the vat below flexed and gurgled and the Doctor nodded. “Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?”

 

Looking away from the Doctor, Lexi gasped when she saw her friend on a lower level. Running past the Doctor, Lexi collapsed next to Rose and checked her over, sighing in relief when she saw that she was fine. “Hey, hey. You’re alright, Rose. Everything is going to be fine.”

 

“That thing down there, the liquid. Lexi, it can talk!” Rose exclaimed, gripping onto Lexi tightly. Smiling reassuringly at her friend, Lexi looked up to see the Doctor striding past them, giving Lexi a small nod. Nodding in return, Lexi could see the look on his face, one that she had worn countless times. It was the face of someone that knew what was going on, but knew that saying anything would just make matters worse. “Who the hell is he?!”

 

“Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?” The Doctor called as he continued down the stairs. Lexi snickered under her breath and helped Rose stand, guiding her closer to the wall.

 

“Everything is going to be okay, Rose. The Doctor and I will make sure of that.” Lexi whispered to her friend as she held her to her side.

 

“How are you not freaking out right now?”

 

Lexi sighed and bowed her head, hating that she had to break the truth to her friend at that time. “I’m a Hunter, Rose. Not game hunting, but the kind of hunting that keeps people safe from the things that lurk in the dark.”

 

“You do this all the time?!”

 

“No,” Lexi shook her head. “This is new.”

 

Turning her attention back to the Doctor, Lexi watched as he spoke to the Consciousness. “Am I addressing the Consciousness?” The vat gurgled and the Doctor nodded. “Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?”

 

Lexi snickered, but quickly sobered when the vat made angry noises. “Shit.”

 

“Oh, don’t give me that. It’s an invasion, plain and simple. Don’t talk about constitutional rights.” The vat gurgled. “I am talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they’re capable of so much more. I’m asking you on their behalf. Please, just go.”

 

As the Doctor spoke, a pair of shop dummies appeared from somewhere and Lexi growled in frustration, letting go of Rose to pull her gun out of her waistband. “Doctor! Watch out!” Before the Doctor could react, the dummies grabbed him, taking the anti-plastic out of his pocket, causing the vat to growl angrily.

 

“That was just insurance, I wasn’t going to use it. I was not attacking you. I’m here to help. I’m not your enemy. I swear, I’m not.” The Doctor paused in his pleading when the vat grumbled. “What do you mean.” Behind Lexi and Rose, a door slide aside to reveal the TARDIS. “No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that’s my ship. That’s not true. I should know, I was there.” The Doctor’s voice broke a little. “I fought in the war. It wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t save our world! I couldn’t save any of them!”

 

“Doctor, what’s going on?” Lexi called as she clicked the safety off of her gun. “What’s it doing?”

 

“It’s the TARDIS! The Nestene’s identified its superior technology. It’s terrified. It’s going to the final phase. It’s starting the invasion!” Straining to look back at Lexi, the Doctor saw her scared expression as she held her gun down, unsure of how to help. “Get out of here, Lexi! Just leg it, now!”

 

Shaking her head, Lexi fixed her grip on her gun and looked around them, trying to figure out how to get them out. “Rosie? I need you to call Alec and tell him ‘poughkeepsie’.” 

 

“Pough-what?”

 

“He’ll understand. He was there when my brothers and I came up with it.” Lexi told her, never stopping her search for a way out. “Take my phone from my back pocket and call Alec, now.”

 

Nodding, Rose did as she was told. “Alec?... Hey, yeah-um… Lexi told me to tell you something… I don’t understand what she means, but she said that you would?... Oh, um… Poughkeepsie… Y-yeah, we’re fine… Okay, bye Alec.”

 

When Rose hung up with Alec, she shoved Lexi’s phone back into the blonde’s pocket. 

 

Suddenly, bolts of energy began erupting from the vat. Seeing the danger, Lexi immediately stepped in front of Rose, wanting to protect her from any harm. “Doctor, what the hell is that?!”

 

“It’s the activation signal. It’s transmitting!”

 

“Son of a bitch.” Lexi grumbled under her breath as she clicked the safety back on her gun and shoved it into her waistband, as she saw the ropes and chains and knew exactly what she needed to do.

 

“Lexi, let’s just go! Just leave him! There’s nothing you can do!”

 

Ignoring her friend, Lexi pulled one of her knives out of its holster and darted towards the chains, quickly cutting through the rope holding the chains against the wall. “My big brother is dead, my younger brother chose a demon over me, and my parents are both dead.” Grabbing the chain, Lexi turned and heaved a sigh, letting a smirk fall onto her lips. “But I’ll tell you what I do have. I’m one of the best hunters in the world.” 

 

Running forward, Lexi launched herself off of the platform and swung towards the dummies, kicking them into the vat as the Doctor wrenched himself free. Swinging back, Lexi felt the Doctor wrap his arms around her, steadying her as she let go of the chain. 

 

“Lexi, you okay?” Nodding with a smile, Lexi held onto the Doctor’s shoulders as they watched the anti-plastic seep into the Consciousness. As it seeped in, the Consciousness began to scream and turn blue. “Now we’re in trouble.”

 

Letting go of Lexi, he took her hand instead and ran to the TARDIS. Unlocking the door, the Doctor let Lexi and Rose enter first before he entered himself, quickly shutting the door behind him. A moment later, the Doctor flipped a few switches, making the TARDIS take off. 

 

||||||||||

 

As soon as the TARDIS landed, Rose had thrown open the door and ran out, breathing heavily in fear. Chuckling to herself, Lexi pulled her phone out and followed Rose, dialing Alec as she walked. 

 

“ _ Lex? What the hell happened? Why did you tell Rosie to say- _ ”

 

“You okay? Where are you?” Lexi cut him off, tucking her hair behind her ear as she exited the Blue Box.

 

“ _ I was on my way home from work and the shop dummies started coming to life. _ ”

 

“Are you safe?”

 

“ _ Yeah, but- _ ”

 

“I’ll talk to you later, I need to make sure Rosie isn’t freaking out.” Lexi cut him off once more, quickly hanging up the phone before shoving it into her pocket and carefully approaching Rose. Smiling down at her friend, she let the scared girl cling onto her. When she heard the door to the TARDIS open, Lexi looked up to see the Doctor smiling at her. 

 

“Nestene Consciousness? Easy.”

 

“You were useless in there, Doctor. You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me.”

 

The Doctor nodded in thanks as he leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. “Yes, I would. Thank you.” The Doctor paused for a moment. “Right then, I’ll be off. Unless, er… I don’t know, you could come with me. This box isn’t just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge.”

 

Lexi smiled in awe, going to step forward, only to be stopped by Rose. “Don’t. He’s an alien. He’s a thing!”

 

“She’s not invited.” The Doctor stated simply, looking pointedly at the shaking girl. “What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere.”

 

“Is it always like this?” Lexi asked, the rush of adrenaline making her feel like she was with her brothers on a hunt. It was familiar and real, unlike what she had been experiencing the past four months.

 

“Yeah.” Lexi almost said yes, but stopped, remembering that her friends would be confused and upset, her smile dropped and she frowned. 

 

“I-um… I…  _ can’t _ . I have to-um… I have to get her home and explain everything to Alec.”

 

“Okay.” The Doctor nodded, failing to hide his disappointment. “See you around.” 

 

The Doctor closed the door and the TARDIS dematerialized a moment later. Watching it leave, Lexi felt a small amount of anger towards her friends. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and she had missed it because she had so-called responsibilities. “Come on, let’s go.” She said in a hard voice, dragging Rose out of the alley.

 

Before they could fully exit the alley, however, the TARDIS materialized and the door opened, the Doctor poking his head out of it. “By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?”

 

Grinning to herself, Lexi pried Rose’s hands from her jacket and took a step back. “Tell Alec I’ll be fine.”

 

“Wha-what’s going on?”

 

“I’ll be back, Rosie. I promise.” Giving her friend one last hug, Lexi turned and ran to the TARDIS, jumping through the door, grinning madly.


	3. Settling In

Lexi was still smiling as the Doctor sent the TARDIS into flight, letting her float around space. Approaching him, Lexi examined the console, still amazed at what she was seeing.

“Why don’t you go and get settled in?” Looking up, Lexi raised an eyebrow and the Doctor gestured to a doorway to her left. “Rooms are down the hall, take a right.”

Nodding, Lexi smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“And then when you get back, we can figure out where we’re going!” The Doctor called after her, making her let out a laugh and give him a mock salute before she disappeared down the hall.

Once she was gone, the Doctor sighed and sat down on the jumpseat, thinking back to what he had seen after he’d left her in that alley. He’d been in mid-flight when the TARDIS had bombarded him with images.

**_Lexi saving him from the Nestene Consciousness._ **

**_Lexi with glowing blue eyes approaching something hidden from his view, a long blade clutched in her hand._ **

**_Lexi fighting off dark creatures with two long blades, a man in a trenchcoat fighting alongside her._ **

**_Lexi somehow hovering a foot in the air, her arms outstretched as a white light pulsed from her._ **

“But she’s human, how is any of that possible?”

_ Return to her and find out. _ The TARDIS had replied to him, unwilling to say much more than that.

The Doctor had listened to her, and it had paid off. He had her with him and he somehow knew that she was going to be important to him. 

The strange thing, however, was the power that he had felt when he had seen the images. His Lexi didn’t have that amount of power within her, he would have felt it if she had. He also knew that she did not have the blade from the visions, those had not been on Earth in a very long time.

 

||||||||||

 

Making her way down the hallways of the TARDIS, Lexi was in awe of everything. She had never thought that she would ever be anywhere other than Earth, but there she was. On a spaceship. In space. 

_ Dean would have freaked _ . Lexi thought to herself as she stopped in front of a door that was inscribed with the tattoo she had on her chest. 

“Thanks.” Lexi murmured, stroking the wall as she opened the door, gasping at what she saw inside.

The ceiling was a breathtaking depiction of the Northern Lights, which Lexi had fond memories of seeing with Dean while Sam had been at Stanford. As she stared at it, Lexi felt tears in her eyes as it moved like it had from her memory.

Looking away from the ceiling, Lexi scanned the room and saw that it was exactly as she had always told her brothers she would decorate her room if she had her own room. All of the furniture was black with silver accents, which reminded her so much of the Impala. The walls were purple and plastered with pictures that Lexi had taken with her brothers and the friends that she had made over the years.

Moving to her bed, Lexi saw a beautiful mural. She wasn’t sure what it was, nor what the creature that was painted there was, but Lexi couldn’t help but feel it was special to her. Smiling at its beauty, Lexi shifted her attention to the large bookshelf that spanned the entirety of one wall and squealed in delight, running over to it to examine the shelves. They were stocked with every book she had ever read, as well as hundreds, if not thousands, more that she had never seen before. Next to the shelves was a wall full of weapons, hunting gear, and protection charms. They were all things that were in the Impala’s trunk, as well as weapons she had only read about.

Laughing to herself, Lexi moved back over to the wall that was filled with photos, looking over them, giggling at many of the ones that depicted amusing scenes and funny faces.

“You seem giddy.” The Doctor’s voice called from the door as he stepped in.

“Good memories,” Lexi replied, grinning as she looked around the room. “This is everything I have ever wanted, everything I had planned to do when we finally found a home.” She paused for a moment before settling her eyes on the Doctor. “Your ship is awesome.”

The Doctor grinned. “That she is.” He agreed before looking over at her wall of weapons. “You seem to be very into weaponry.”

“Gotta be in my line of work,” Lexi replied, gesturing him to look at the photos on the wall. “My brothers and I are Hunters. We hunt the supernatural and save people. We’ve been doing it since I can remember.”

“How did you get into this?” The Doctor asked, feeling that he already knew the answer.

“My mom was killed by a Demon named Azazel because she interfered with him contaminating my younger brother, Sam, when he was six months old. She burned on the ceiling and the rest of us survived, but my dad was never the same. After she died he was no longer our dad, not really. He had turned into John Winchester, the ruthless Hunter on a mission.”

“And he trained you and your siblings to do the same.” The Doctor finished her story.

“Yeah, my brothers and I have been Hunting for so long that we can’t seem to live a life without it.” 

The Doctor paused for a moment, a question on the tip of his tongue that he knew would hurt her, but he needed to know. “The TARDIS showed me something.” He stated slowly, watching as she tensed. “It was you and two other men. One was sitting next to you and the other was in your lap-”

“My older brother, Dean. He sold his soul to a Demon to save my younger brother, Sam. He was given a year, instead of ten, and was dragged down to Hell by HellHounds that day.” Lexi paused, a tear slipping down her cheek. “He has always been my best friend, and now he’s yet another body in the ground.”

“I’m sorry.” The Doctor murmured.

“Don’t. You didn’t kill him, that bitch Lilith did.” Lexi said coldly before taking a shaky breath and making herself relax. “He sacrificed himself for Sam, I would have done the same if he hadn’t knocked me out and tied me to a chair so he could give up his soul.”

They stood in silence for a few moments before the Doctor turned and grinned at her. “So, Alexis Winchester, ready for your first trip through time?”

Lexi allowed her face to break into a wide grin, “Hell yes.”

The Doctor laughed and gestured for her to leave her room. Slipping past him, Lexi turned down the hall and ran to the console room, the Doctor following close behind her.


	4. The End of the World

Entering the console room, the Doctor steps behind her, Lexi laughed when he joined her at the console, grinning like an idiot.

 

“Right then, Lexi Winchester, you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time? It’s your choice. What’s it going to be?”

 

“Forwards.” Lexi said after a moment.

 

“How far?”

 

Lexi hummed thoughtfully for a moment before grinning at the Doctor. “One hundred years?”

 

Grinning in return, the Doctor flipped a few switches and the TARDIS made a wheezing noise for a moment. “There you go. Step outside those doors, it’s the twenty second century.”

 

“You’re kidding.” Lexi laughed, looking back at the door before turning back to the Doctor.

 

“That’s a bit boring, though. Do you want to go further?”

 

“Fine by me.” Lexi shrugged, grinning at the Doctor, her arms folded over her chest as the Doctor flipped a few more switches, sending them further into the future.

 

“Ten thousand years into the future. Step outside, it’s the year 12005, the new Roman Empire.”

 

Lexi snorted and shook her head. “You think you’re so impressive.”

 

“I am so impressive!” The Doctor exclaimed, looking slightly offended.

 

“You wish.”

 

The Doctor suddenly grinned at her, a light blazing in his eyes. “Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go. Hold on!” The Doctor flipped switched, pressed buttons, and cranked a lever, sending them far into the future. When they landed, Lexi stared over at the door, feeling excitement bubbling in her gut.

 

“Where are we? What’s out there?” The Doctor just smiled and gestured for Lexi to exit. 

 

Feeling giddy, Lexi dashed to the door and threw it open, gasping in glee when she saw that they were in a completely different location than before. Stepping out of the TARDIS, Lexi made her way down a flight of steps and to the large window that was being revealed by a large shutter as it descended. Grinning excitedly, Lexi moved closer to the Doctor when he reached the bottom of the stairs. 

 

“You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you’re going to get killed by eggs or beef, or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day.” The Doctor paused and looked down at his watch. “Hold on.”

 

A moment later, the sun suddenly flared and turned red. “Holy hell…” Lexi muttered, staring out the window in a sort of horrified awe.

 

“This is the day the Sun expands.” The Doctor told her, his hands in his pockets. “Welcome to the end of the world.”

 

||||||||||

 

_ -Followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite. _

 

Lexi and the Doctor strolled down a corridor, Lexi forcing herself to focus on the amazing fact that she was in the future, and not the fact that her planet was in the middle of being burned.

 

“So, when it says guests, does that means aliens and other creatures of the sort?”

 

“Basically, yeah.”

 

“What are they doing on board this spaceship? What’s the point of all of this?”

 

“It’s not really a spaceship, more like an observation deck.” The Doctor explained as they neared a door. “The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn.”

 

“For what?” Lexi asked as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on a wall panel, opening the door in front of them.

 

“Fun.” Rolling her eyes at the Doctor’s response, Lexi made her way into the room, looking around in awe at the display cases and the large windows. “Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich.”

 

“Pompous pricks.” Lexi muttered as she stared out the window. “Doesn’t the sun take thousands of years to expand or something?”

 

“Millions, but the planet’s now property of the National Trust. They’ve been keeping it preserved. See down there?” The Doctor pointed at something in the distance. “Gravity satellites holding back the sun.”

 

“The planet looks the same as when we left. Aren’t the continents supposed to shift? I swear we learned that in school.”

 

The Doctor nodded. “They did, and the Trust shifted them back. That’s a classic Earth. But now the money’s run out, nature takes over.

 

“How long does it have left?”

 

The Doctor checked his watch, “About half an hour and then the planet gets roasted.”

 

“Is there anyone left down there?”

 

“Nope, it’s empty. They’re all gone. No one left.”

 

Lexi sighed and cocked her head as she stared down at the planet. “Just me, then.”

 

The Doctor frowned and went to say something, but was interrupted by a blue-skinned alien with slitted yellow eyes approaching them. “Who the hell are you?”

 

“Oh, that’s nice, thanks.” The Doctor scoffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes when they turned to face him.

 

“But how did you get in?” The man sputtered, “This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They’re on their way any second now.”

 

The Doctor pulled out a card holder and flipped it open, showing the man what was inside. “That’s me. I’m a guest. Look, I’ve got an invitation. Look. There, you see? It’s fine, you see? The Doctor plus one. I’m the Doctor, this is Lexi Winchester. She’s my plus one. Is that alright?”

 

“Well, obviously. Apologies, et cetera. If you’re on board, we’d better start. Enjoy.” The man stuttered out, looking flustered, before he quickly walked away.

 

“What was that?”

 

“He was-”

 

“Not the blue alien, idiot.” Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes at him. “The paper. It was blank.”

 

“Ah.” The Doctor muttered, nodding slightly. “The paper’s slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time.”

 

“I need to get some of that. It would save so much time when we’re on a case.” Lexi said, looking down at the paper. If she had psychic paper, she wouldn’t need to create the different badges and such that she and her brothers used.

 

“We have in attendance, the Doctor and Lexi Winchester.” The blue man, the Steward, announced and his podium. “Thank you. All staff to their positions.” Several small, blue aliens appeared from the edges of the room and filed out, “Hurry, now, thank you. Quick as we can. Come along, come along.”

 

“He seems quite flustered.” Lexi murmured to the Doctor and they watched the Steward.

 

“And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa.”

 

As the Steward spoke, a woman with bark for skin entered with two larger males following. The woman wore an elegant gown that made Lexi wonder if she and the Doctor were underdressed. She knew that her flannel and Dean’s leather jacket weren’t exactly fashionable, but she felt like the Doctor didn’t care if he stood out.

 

“There will be a gift exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you.” The Steward continued, “Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon.”

 

“You wouldn’t happen to have something to give these people, would you?” Lexi asked the Doctor as another blue alien entered. He had a large head and sat on some sort of transport.

 

“And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.” A group of black-robed bipeds entered and Lexi got a bad feeling. There was something wrong with them, something off, but she couldn’t figure out what. “The inventors of Hypo-slip Travel Systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you.” Fur-clad reptilian aliens entered the room. 

 

As the Steward continued announcing guests, Lexi’s attention shifted to the trees that approached them. “Are you sure you don’t have anything?”

 

“Nothing that I want to give to them.” 

 

Lexi sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, you stand there and look pretty. I’ll handle this.”

 

The Doctor snickered, “You think I’m pretty?”

 

Giving him a small glare, Lexi turned and straightened, putting a smile on her face. She was used to pretending to be someone she wasn’t, it was almost second nature to lie.

 

“The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather.” The tree, Jabe, said as she held out a twig in a small put to Lexi, who took it and handed it to the Doctor.

 

“Thank you.” Lexi paused for a moment before smirking, “I give you in return, air from my lungs.” Lexi inhaled and the breathed gently on Jabe, watching as she seemed somewhat flustered.

 

“How intimate.”

 

Lexi chuckled, “There’s more where that came from.”

 

“I bet there is.” Jabe said, looking Lexi up and down before bowing her head and moving on to the next guests.

 

“I think I just flirted with a tree.” Lexi murmured to the Doctor once they were gone, “Dean would have loved that.”

 

“Good thinking, though”

 

“From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe.” A large glass case entered through the doorway. Within the glass was a giant humanoid head with straggly hair and squinting eyes. Lexi cocked her head as he stopped at the other side of the room.

 

Her attention was turned away from the Face of Boe, however, when the Doctor spoke. “The Moxx of Balhoon.”

 

“My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily salivas.” He spat in Lexi’s direction, but she quickly moved behind the Doctor, refusing to be spat on. 

 

“Thank you very much.” The Doctor said with a grimace on his face when he saw the spit on his jacket. When the Moxx was gone, Lexi moved from behind the Doctor and handed him a tissue from her pocket, snickering as she watched him clean up the spit. Before he could say anything to Lexi, the black-robed group approached. “Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs.”

 

The Doctor breathed on the alien before him as it brought a silver sphere out of its robes. “A gift of peace in all good faith.”

 

As the robed beings walked away from the Doctor and Lexi, the Steward began to speak again. “And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human.” Lexi tensed and shot a look of confusion at the Doctor. “The Lady Cassandra O’Brien Dot Delta Seventeen.”

 

The doors opened and a face in a piece of thin skin stretched in a rectangular frame was wheeled in by two men hidden in head-to-toe hospital whites. “Oh, now, don’t stare. I know, I know, it’s shocking, isn’t it? I’ve had my chin completely taken away, and look at the difference. Look how thin I am! Thin and dainty. I don’t look a day over two thousand.” She paused as her eyes widened. “Moisturize me. Moisturize me!”

 

Lexi was horrified at the sight of the Lady Cassandra and grabbed the Doctor’s hand as she cringed. “What in the hell is wrong with the future?”

 

“Truly, I am the last Human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honour them and say goodbye.” Cassandra paused, seeming to tear up, not that Lexi thought she had the capacity to do so anymore. “Oh, no tears, no tears. I’m sorry. But behold, I bring gifts. From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband? Oh, no. Oh, don’t laugh. I’ll get laughter lines. And here, another rarity.” 

 

A jukebox was rolled in and Lexi rolled her eyes, “There’s one of those in every bar I’ve been to. Not that special.” The Doctor chuckled quietly at Lexi’s disgruntled tone. 

 

“According to the archives, this was called an iPod.-”

 

“You’re shitting me.”

 

“-It stores classical music from humanity’s greatest composers. Play on!” One of the attendants pressed a button and a 45 was selected. A moment later, the first few bars of Tainted Love by Soft Cell played, making Lexi roll her eyes in annoyance.

 

“Where the hell did she get her bullshit information?” Lexi grumbled, narrowing her eyes at Cassandra as she extracted her hand from the Doctor’s and walked forward, ignoring his noise of protest. Before she could leave the room, however, Lexi was stopped by Jabe, the tree-woman.

 

“Lexi?” Stopping, Lexi turned to look at Jabe with an annoyed expression. As soon as she looked, a flash went off and Lexi narrowed her eyes at the woman. “Thank you.”

 

Instead of responding to Jabe, Lexi simply turned and stalked away, wondering what sort of chaos she would induce if she took out her gun and shot the jukebox. Shaking those thoughts away, Lexi made her way back to the room she and the Doctor had first arrived, needing a moment to herself. As much as she loved the new experience, she couldn’t believe how ignorant people were of what Earth was actually like.

 

Sitting down on the steps, Lexi sighed and looked out at the Earth below, feeling quite unsure of how to feel. Although she would technically be dead by this point, she couldn’t believe how the aliens seemed so insensitive to the situation. At first, she had debated exploring, but she thought that it would probably lead to her being even more upset. Instead, she had secluded herself, hoping to calm herself down so she didn’t shoot someone or something else that would cause problems.

 

“Lexi?” The Doctor’s voice and footsteps caused Lexi to turn around and look at him. Giving him a small smile, Lexi turned back around, staring out the window. “What do you think, then?”

 

“Great, yeah. Um… it’s definitely different from what I’m used to.” Lexi sighed and played with the pendant that Dean had given her for her sixteenth birthday. “When we find something that isn’t human, we always put it down if it’s doing harm. I’m used to thinking that all things that aren’t human are evil.”

 

“And what about them? Do you think they’re evil?”

 

“I’m not from around here, Doctor. Things have obviously changed from what I’m used to back home. I can’t go in there and gank them all, they haven’t hurt anyone.”

 

“You’re really open to all of this.”

 

Lexi laughed, “I’ve grown up with weird, Doctor. This is just another day for me.”

 

The Doctor joined in on her laughter, loving the way she looked when she actually smiled. Her entire being seemed to radiate joy and light, it warmed his heart.

 

“So, if there are a million planets out there, where are you from?” Lexi asked, frowning when she saw him tense. “I mean, I was born in Lawrence, Kansas. Lived there until I was two and then moved away, pretty much living in the Impala and seedy motel rooms.”

 

“I’m from all over the place, like you.”

 

“By choice?” When he didn’t respond, Lexi sighed and decided to change the subject. “So, is English the language of the Universe, or what?”

 

“You’re just hearing English. It’s a gift of the TARDIS.” The Doctor replied, finally looking back over at Lexi. “The telepathic field, gets inside your brain and translates.”

 

“It’s inside my brain?” Lexi asked, shuttering when she recalled the times she and her brothers had been possessed, unable to control their bodies. She never wanted to have something other than herself in her mind ever again.

 

“Well, in a good way.” The Doctor explained, sensing that Lexi was uncomfortable.

 

“Doctor, in my line of work, if something is in your head, you kill it. It never means anything good.” Lexi watched as the Doctor winced slightly at her words. “I’ve had things forced into my mind and body before, Doctor.”

 

“I’m sorry, Lexi. I didn’t think about it like that.”

 

“I know you didn’t, this is normal for you. If you had told me, I would have reacted better, so thank you for telling me now instead of later.” The Doctor nodded and they sat there for a moment in silence. “So, what kind of alien are you, then?”

 

“I’m just the Doctor.”

 

“No planet to be mentioned? Just the Doctor and his TARDIS?”

 

“None that you would have ever heard of.” The Doctor snapped, obviously unhappy with her line of questioning.

 

“Not sure if that’s meant to be insulting, but alright. If you don’t want to tell me, fine. But don’t snap at me.”

 

“What does it matter where I’m from?”

 

“It would just be nice to know who I’m travelling with, that’s all. With so many unknowns in my life, I try to at least know who the people around me are.”

 

“This is who I am, right here, right now, alright? All that counts is here and now, and this is me.” The Doctor said, standing from his seat and moving away from from Lexi and to the window. Sighing, Lexi knew that she had pushed him too far.

 

_ Earth Death in twenty minutes. Earth Death in twenty minutes. _

 

Seeing how tense the Doctor looked, Lexi stood from her seat and moved to stand next to the Doctor, leaving space between them. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.” She paused and laughed. “Dean always used to tell me that if I argued, he’d leave me behind. I argued with him once over something trivial and had to call Sammy to come and get me… not that I would even be able to call him now.” Lexi sighed as she stared down at her phone, her eyes watering at the background picture. It was a picture of Lexi and her brothers, not long after Sam had joined them, sitting on the hood of the Impala. 

 

Looking over at her sadly, the Doctor sighed and took her phone from her grasp. “Tell you what. With a little bit of jiggery pokery…” The Doctor took the back of her phone off and removed the battery.

 

“Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?” Lexi asked with a laugh, moving closer to the Doctor as she watched him work.

 

“Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?”

 

“Nah, I aced hullabaloo.”

 

Smirking down at her, the Doctor put a small piece of machinery into her phone before replacing the back and handing the phone back to her. “Ah, there you go.”

 

“Thanks.” Lexi smiled at him, squeezing his arm before taking a few steps away and dialling Dean’s number. Although she knew that he wouldn’t answer, she just wanted to hear his voice again.

 

“ _ Hey, you’ve reached Dean Winchester. I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your name, number, and nightmare at the tone. _ ”

 

“H-hey Dean. I know that I’ve left so many voicemails that it’s become a bit sad, but I just wanted to hear your voice again.” Lexi took a shaky breath before continuing. “So… I’ve met someone and I’ve started um… hunting with them. I know that you’ve always said that we shouldn’t trust people other than our family, but I know that he won’t hurt me. He saved me and I-I think that this is going to be good for me. I-um… I think this will be last time I call you, De. I-um… I’ve been hurting myself over this, for not saving you for four months, and I think I need to start trying to heal myself.” Lexi sniffed and ran her fingers through her hair. “I love you, De.  _ Goodbye _ .” Lexi’s voice broke and a few tears slipped down her face.

 

“You alright?”

 

Lexi sniffled and wiped the tears from her face. “I will be… thank you, Doctor, for doing this.”

 

“Of course, Lexi.” The Doctor replied with a sad smile, holding his arm out to her. With a small laugh, Lexi gave him a watery smile and walked into his arms sinking into the warmth radiating from him. The Doctor and Lexi stood there for a few moments before they were suddenly caught of balance as the station shook. Stepping out of the Doctor’s embrace, Lexi frowned and looked up at him, seeing an inquisitive expression on his face. “That’s not supposed to happen.”

 

||||||||||

 

The Doctor and Lexi entered the main observation deck, the Hunter realizing as they stopped walking that the Doctor had taken her hand in his, which she found odd.

 

“That wasn’t a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don’t feel like that.” The Doctor announced before turning his attention to Jabe, one of the tree people they had met earlier. “What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines, they’ve pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?”

 

Jabe shrugged, “It’s the sound of metal. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

 

The Doctor frowned for a moment, looking down at Lexi before looking back at Jabe. “Where’s the engine room?”

 

“I don’t know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you and your wife.”

 

Before the Doctor could argue that they weren’t married and potentially make Jabe hate them, Lexi stepped closer to the Doctor and wound her arm around his. “We are so not married, but it doesn’t matter what we are. How about the two of you go down and figure out what the hell is going on. I’ll go and mingle or something, maybe go and talk to Michael Jackson.”

 

The Doctor smirked down at her and nodded, squeezing her hand before taking his arm from her grasp and moving towards Jabe. “Don’t start a fight.”

 

Lexi snorting at him and rolled her eyes. “Don’t do something stupid without me.”

 

The Doctor laughed and offered his arm to Jabe, leaving the room as soon as she held onto his arm. As she watched the Doctor and Jabe walk away, Lexi felt a slight burning sensation in her stomach, but quickly pushed it down when a voice echoed in her mind

 

_ “Worry not, lonely angel. The Doctor is simply kind to all.” _

 

Frowning, Lexi swept her eyes across the room, finally stopping on The Face of Boe. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she had a feeling that he was the one speaking to her. So, with a calming breath, Lexi approached him. 

 

“You’re more powerful than you let on, friend.” Lexi said as she stood before the tank.

 

“ _ Not powerful, my friend. I’ve simply picked up a few tricks over my long life. _ ” Nodding slightly, Lexi narrowed her eyes at him.

 

“Why did you call me ‘lonely angel’? We’ve never met.” The Face of Boe’s amused laugh filled Lexi’s mind, making her sigh. “Time travel, right? We meet in my future?”

 

_ “Yes, Lexi. We do.” _

 

“When?” He laughed in her mind again and Lexi sighed. “I’m not allowed to know, am I?”

 

_ “I will not look as I do now. You will not recognize me until much later.” _

 

“Okay… I can deal with that. Even if you are being cryptic as hell.” Sighing once more, Lexi waved to him in farewell before she turned and made her way over to Cassandra, grimacing when she saw her up close.

 

“Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die.” Cassandra said as Lexi stopped next to her, sounding not all that upset about it. “That’s where I used to live, when I was a little boy, down there.”

 

“Boy?” Lexi questioned, only to be ignored as the Lady continued.

 

“Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I’d have such fun.”

 

“And what happened to the human race? You can’t be the last.”

 

“They say mankind has touched every star in the sky.”

 

“So, you’re not that last human, then.”

 

“I am the last pure human. The others mingled.” Cassandra sneered. “Oh, they call themselves New Humans and Proto-Humans and Digi-Humans, even Humanish. But you know what I call them? Mongrels.”

 

“Right, well. If you’d have picked up a book, you’d have realized that the whole point of civilization is to evolve and move forward, not stay stuck in the dark ages.”

 

“I kept myself pure.”

 

Lexi snorted. “And how many operations have you had?”

 

“Seven hundred and eight.” Cassandra said proudly. “Next week, it’s seven hundred and nine. I’m having my skin bleached. Is that why you wanted a word? You could be flatter, Lexi. You’ve got a little bit of a chin.”

 

“I’d rather burn in the pits of Hell.”

 

“Honestly, it doesn’t hurt.”

 

Lexi rolled her eyes at the woman, if she could call her that. “No, I mean it. I would rather die. It’s better to die than live like you, a bitchy trampoline.”

 

“Oh, well. What do you know.” Cassandra sneered, making Lexi hiss in annoyance.

 

“I was born on that planet, you bitch. I have protected the people on that planet for  _ years _ from things that would give you nightmares. So, unlike you, I am the last human in this room. You’re not human anymore. You’ve had it all nipped and tucked and flattened until there’s nothing left. Anything that was human got chucked in the bin.” Lexi glared at Cassandra. “You’re just skin, Cassandra. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking.”

 

As Lexi stalked out of the room, hopeful that she would find the Doctor, she could feel worry emanating from the Face of Boe. Glancing over at him, she sent a small smile his way before leaving the room completely.

 

After wandering the halls for awhile, her mind whirling with questions about what she had gotten herself into, Lexi decided to make her way back to the observation deck. As she did, she bumped into the Doctor and Jabe, who looked alarmed.

 

“Lexi! There you are.” The Doctor greeted with a grin, scooping up her hand in his so that he could pull her along.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Someone is sabotaging the ship.” Jabe said from the other side of the Doctor, making Lexi hum. 

 

“Nothing is ever simple, is it?” The Doctor just chuckled as they neared the door, his face quickly turning back to a serious one when they entered.

 

“The metal machine confirms.” Jabe called out once they were inside. “The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One.”

 

“How’s that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall!” Cassandra shrieked before letting out a gasp, “Moisturize me! Moisturize me!”

 

“Summon the Steward!” The Moxx of Balhoon said, looking quite alarmed.

 

“I’m afraid the Steward is dead.”

 

Everyone let out a gasp, “Who killed him?”

 

“The whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe! He invited us. Talk to the Face! Talk to the Face!” Lady Cassandra shrieked once more, making Lexi angry. There was something about the woman that Lexi didn’t trust.

 

“That’s bullshit and you know it, lady!” 

 

“Or perhaps it was you, blondie.”

 

“Easy way of finding out.” The Doctor squeezed Lexi’s hand in an attempt to calm her down as he tried to diffuse the situation. He really didn’t want her pulling out her gun and shooting anyone. “Someone brought their little pet on board. Let’s send him back to his master."

 

The Doctor set down the metal spider on the floor and it scuttled off towards Cassandra. It paused for a moment, scanning her, before turning and scuttling over to the black-robed group. Watching the little creature, Lexi had an uneasy feeling. There was something else going on.

 

Cassandra let out what sounded like a fake gasp. “The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J’accuse!”

 

“Something’s not right.” Lexi murmured to the Doctor, earning a nod. 

 

“That’s all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it-” He moved over to the Adherents and the leader tried to hit him, but was stopped by Lexi. Jumping into action without a second thought, Lexi grabbed the arm and yanked, the arm disconnecting from the body. Grinning down at the blonde, the Doctor continued. “A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that’s all they are, an idea.”

 

“I wonder…” Lexi hummed as she grabbed the wires at the end of the arm and pulled. When she did, a smirk appeared on her face as the Aderents collapsed at once. “Knew it.”

 

“Remote controlled Droids, nice little cover for the real troublemaker.” The Doctor commented as she turned his attention back to the spider, nudging it with his foot. “Go on, Jimbo. Go home.”

 

The  spider jumped slightly and scuttled over to Cassandra, who let out an annoyed sound. “I bed you were the school swots and never got kissed.”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Lexi muttered with a glare, her hand itching to grab her gun. 

 

“At arms!”

 

“What are you going to do, moisturize me?” The Doctor asked with a smirk as Lexi pulled out her gun, taking the safety off and cocking it.

 

“With acid.” Lady Cassandra said haughtily, “Oh, you’re too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every coe wall. I’m not just a pretty face.”

 

“You’re not even that, you bitch.” Lexi spat, raising her gun. She wouldn’t shoot unless necessary, but she felt better aiming it at the woman -- if she could even call her that.

 

“Sabotaging a ship while you’re still inside it? How stupid’s that?” The Doctor asked, his head cocked as he glanced at Lexi wearily. He was never fond of guns and she seemed almost too fond of them.

 

“I’d hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous.”

 

Lexi scoffed, “Five billion years and it still comes down to money. No wonder everything always goes to hell.”

 

“Do you think it’s cheap, looking like this?” Cassandra demanded, “Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, not you, you freak!”

 

Lexi was really tempted to pull the trigger, but the Doctor gently grabbed her wrist, squeezing gently and bringing it to her side as the Moxx cried out; “Arrest her, the infidel!”

 

“Oh, shut it, pixie.” Cassandra snapped, “I’ve still got my final option.”

 

_ Earth Death in three minutes. _

 

“And here it comes. You’re just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they’ll triple in price as soon as you’re dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. ” The room looked to her, horrified, as Lexi scoffed and attempted to pull her wrist away from the Doctor’s grip, but he held her steady. Lady Cassandra smirked at their reactions. “How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn.”

 

“Then you’ll burn with us.” Jabe hissed angrily as Lexi continued to discreetly attempt to get her wrist back.

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I’m such a naughty thing.” Cassandra giggled to herself, “Spiders, activate!”

 

“What the hell?” Lexi muttered as there was a series of explosions throughout the Platform the rocketed it slightly.

 

“Force Fields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it’ll be quick. Just like my fifth husband.” Cassandra snickered to herself, “Oh shame on me.”

 

_ Safety systems failing. _

 

“Bye-bye, darlings. Bye-bye, my darlings.” Cassandra and her attendants disappeared in a beam of light and Lexi swore in annoyance, pulling her wrist from the Doctor’s grasp. Shooting him a look of annoyance, Lexi put the safety back on and shoved it back into her the waistband of her pants, under her shirt and jacket at the back.

 

_ Heat levels rising. _

 

“Reset the computer!” The Moxx cried out as everyone looked around, unsure of what to do.

 

Jabe shook her head sadly. “Only the Steward would know how.”

 

“No, we can do it by hand.” The Doctor announced, determination clear on his face. “There must be a system restore switch. Jabe, Lex, come on.” Lexi followed the Doctor as he moved for the door, “You lot, just chill.”

 

“I cannot believe you just said that.” Lexi muttered under her breath as she and Jabe followed the Doctor down the hall.

 

_ Heat rising. _

 

||||||||||

 

_ Heat levels critical. _

 

As the trio entered the engine room, Lexi was grimacing at the heat, wishing that she wasn’t wearing a leather jacket in that moment. Looking about the room, they searched for the switch, only for the Doctor to groan.

 

“Oh.” Lexi turned and followed his gaze, frowning when she saw the bridge - where three very large turbines turned at an alarming pace - and a switch box at the other end. “And guess where it us.”

 

“Son of a bitch.” Lexi groaned.

 

_ Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. _

 

The Doctor moved over to the wall and pulled a lever, causing the fans to slow. Seeing what he had done, he grinned to himself and let go, only to frown when they reset to their normal speed.

 

_ External temperature five thousand degrees. _

 

Jabe went to pull the lever, but Lexi grabbed her wrist before she could. “You can’t. The heat’s going to vent through this place.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Jabe, you’re made of wood.” The Doctor reminded her softly, a look of panic on his face as he looked between the women. He didn’t like the thought of either of them staying where they could be harmed.

 

“Then stop wasting time, Time Lord.” Jabe said with a smile as Lexi reached over and pulled the lever herself, using the sleeves of her jacket in an attempt not to burn herself for longer than needed.

 

“Go, Doctor. I’ve got this.” The Doctor nodded hesitantly before jogging over to the turbines, contemplating them. Turning to Jabe, Lexi gave her a soft smile. “Go, Jabe. You’ll die if you stay.”

 

“So will you.”

 

Lexi laughed softly. “Yeah, but this is my job. You’re a civilian, you’re supposed to walk by without noticing the horrors around you.”

 

“Lexi-”

 

“It’s only going to get hotter, you need to go while you still can.” Lexi said forcefully, leaving no room for arguing. “We’ll see you on the observation deck.”

 

Jabe nodded hesitantly and ran off as Lexi winced at the heat that was radiating through the room, making her hands heat up at an alarming rate.

 

_ Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. _

 

Panting as the pain in her hands from the hot metal increased, Lexi watched as the Doctor made it past the first turbine. She knew she wouldn’t be able to withstand the heat for much longer, but she desperately wanted to try.

 

_ Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical. _

 

Lexi cried out softly as she felt her hands burning, although she gritted her teeth and continued holding on as the Doctor made it past the second turbine. Her body trembled in pain as the heat of the handle seared her flesh. Pain was something she was familiar with, but it was different from the pain she had experienced during hunts. She had been cut and shot and broken bones multiple times, but this pain was something else entirely.

 

_ Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. _

 

As the pain began to began to become too much, Lexi screamed out in pain and fell back, collapsing to the floor with shuddering breaths. Curling in on herself, Lexi whimpered in pain as she listened to the countdown, feeling like it was the end. She couldn’t help but feel that it was somehow a poetic justice. After so many years of hunting, perhaps she deserved to die alone, so far in the future that nobody would know who she was.

 

_ Planet explodes in ten… _

 

_ Nine… _

 

_ Eight… _

 

_ Seven… _

 

_ Six…  _

 

_ Five… _

 

_ Four… _

 

_ Three… _

 

_ Two… _

 

_ One… _

 

Lexi flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw the Doctor staring down at her in worry. “You did it.” Lexi murmured with a small smile when he helped her up gently, taking her wrists in his hands when he saw how badly they were shaking.

 

“Your hands…”

 

“That is, unfortunately, not the first time I’ve had an injury like this.” The Doctor frowned before gently cupping her hands in his.

 

“Don’t move.” He murmured as he closed his eyes, a strange orange energy enveloping her hands and seeping into her damaged skin. Gasping in shock, Lexi’s hands jerked slightly but she let them remain in his grasp.

 

“What is this?” She asked curiously as the orange energy faded, revealing smooth, perfect skin.

 

“My people have - had a sort of way to cheat death.” The Doctor explained softly as he ran his thumbs over the new skin. “I used some of the residual energy from my last Regeneration to heal your hands.”

 

Lexi smiled and bit her lip, stepping forward to wrap her arms around him. “Thank you, Doctor.”

 

||||||||||

 

The Doctor and Lexi stormed into the observation gallery, their faces hard and their hands intertwined. As they entered, Jabe rushed over to them, concerned.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Lexi said softly as the Doctor pulled his hand away and began pacing.

 

“I’m full of ideas, I’m bristling with them.” He growled, hands clenched as he looked about the room. “Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby.”

 

Lexi hummed and wandered over to the pedestal, plucking the egg from its perch. “It’s funny, she made such a show of bringing this here…” She mused with a smirk as she cracked it on the edge of the pedestal, revealing a small device.

 

“Idea number three,” Grinning at Lexi, he held out his hand and she dropped the device into it, grinning in return. “If you’re as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed.”

 

He tinkered for a moment before pressing down on a button, reversing the feed. When he did, there was a beam of light and Lady Cassandra appeared once more. 

 

“-Oh, you should have seen their alien faces!-” She paused and looked at where she was. “Oh.”

 

“The last human.” The Doctor sneered.

 

“So, you passed my little test. Bravo.” Cassandra said nervously, “This makes you eligible to join - er - the Human Club.”

 

“People have died, Cassandra.” Lexi hissed, her eyes narrowed in anger. “You murdered them.”

 

“It depends on your definition of people, and that’s enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries.” Cassandra said smugly, “Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter-”

 

“And creak?”

 

“And what?”

 

Lexi smirked darkly, “Creak. You’re creaking.”

 

“What?” Cassandra gasped, “Ah! I’m drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It’s too hot!”

 

“You raised the temperature.” The Doctor said grimly, his face stone as Lexi laced their fingers.

 

“Have pity! Moisturize me!” Cassandra cried, “Oh, oh, Doctor. I’m sorry. I’ll do anything!”

 

“Pity you?” Lexi scoffed under her breath, glaring at the ‘woman’.

 

“Everything has its time and everything dies.”

 

“I’m too young!” Cassandra screamed just as her skin exploded, killing her and only leaving the metal frame she had been attached to.

 

Lexi grimaced. “That was disgusting.” 

 

||||||||||

 

As the passengers left the gallery to board shuttles, Lexi stood at the window, staring out at the remains of her home floating in space.

 

“ _ You won’t be sad forever, my lonely angel. _ ”

 

A sad smile came over Lexi’s face as she turned and saw the Face of Boe not far from her. “So I tell you about myself when we meet each other, then? About Dean and the life?”

 

“ _ I like to think we were best friends. _ ” The Face of Boe mused, smug tone in his voice that made Lexi laugh.

 

“I look forward to it, then.”

 

“ _ Remember, my lonely angel, you can trust him. He will never willingly abandon you, and he will certainly not judge you for your past. _ ”

 

Lexi shook her head, “My past is pretty dark. Lots of bodies left behind.”

 

“ _ As does he. _ ” Lexi was confused by his statement, but didn’t get a chance to question him as he turned away. “ _ Farewell, Lexi Winchester. _ ”

 

“Bye…” The huntress muttered, frowning as she watched him exit the room.

 

“You know the Face of Boe?” Looking to her right, Lexi saw a curious expression on Jabe’s face.

 

“Yeah, I think so.” Lexi mused with a small chuckle. “So, I’m happy you’re safe and actually listened back in the engine room.”

 

Jabe smiled, “You are a true leader, Lexi. Armies would follow you.”

 

“W-”

 

“I suppose this is farewell.” 

 

Lexi nodded, sticking out her hand. “I guess it is.”

 

Jabe bypassed her hand and wrapped her arms around the huntress, hugging her tightly. “It has been a privilege meeting you, Lexi.”

 

“I won’t forget you, Jabe. You’re one of the few kind souls I’ve met in my life.” Lexi replied as they pulled away. “If you ever need help, just call for the Doctor and I may be there as well.”

 

“Here, the metal machine showed me something about you that I think only you should have the evidence of.” Jabe handed Lexi a plastic rectangle and smiled, “Farewell, Lexi.”

 

“Farewell, Jabe.” 

 

The woman nodded and walked back to the men that had accompanied her to the station. As they exited through the doors, the huntress turned back to the window, shoving the plastic in her jacket pocket. She didn’t want to deal with it in that moment.

 

_ Shuttles four and six departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance. _

 

The Doctor appeared at Lexi’s side as she watched the asteroids that were once Earth float past the giant red Sun.

 

“It’s funny, we were so busy saving ourselves that we missed what we came here for. The Earth’s gone and there’s no way we can go back and see it.” Lexi mused, never looking over at the Doctor. “No one saw it go. All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking…”

 

“Come with me.” The Doctor said, gently taking her hand in his, pulling her from the window. Lexi let herself be pulled through the station and back to the TARDIS, where the Doctor left her near the railings as he moved around the consol, pushing buttons and flipping switches. As he did, the TARDIS went into flight, making the wheezing noise that Lexi had begun to grow fond of. “Alright, c’mon.”

 

“Where are we?” Lexi asked curiously as the Doctor moved to the doors once the TARDIS had landed. When he didn’t reply, Lexi sighed and followed him out freezing in the doorway when she saw that they were back on Earth in what looked to be close to her year.

 

“You think it’ll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won’t. One day, it’s all gone… even the sky…” The Doctor paused for a moment, faraway look on his face. “My planet’s gone. It’s dead, burned just like the Earth. It’s just rocks and dust before its time.”

 

“What happened?” Lexi asked softly.

 

“There was a war and we lost.”

 

“A war with who?” When he didn’t reply, Lexi grimaced and realized that her question was probably one he wasn’t ready to answer, if he ever would be. “What about your people?”

 

“I’m a Time Lord. I’m the last of the Time Lords.” Lexi felt a pain in her heart at the sadness on his face. “They’re all gone, I’m the only survivor. I’m left travelling on my own ‘cos there’s no one else.”

 

“There’s me.”

 

“You’ve seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?”

 

“I don’t have a home.” Lexi said softly before turning her head. “Do you smell fries?”

 

“Y-yeah…”

 

Lexi grinned. “I want fries.” 

 

“Me too.”

 

“Let’s get some fries and I’ll regale you with my sad life.” Lexi looked at the Doctor. “You can pay.”

 

“No money.” He shrugged unapologetically and Lexi rolled her eyes. 

 

“What sort of date are you?” She asked with an amused smile when just shyly shook his head. “You’re lucky I got a job when I moved here, then.”

 

Once the duo had their fries - chips, as the woman at the counter had corrected Lexi - they found a table outside and sat down. After a few minutes of silence, Lexi let out a sigh and looked up at the Doctor. 

 

“What do you wanna know?”

 

“You said your father began hunting after your mother passed, why?”

 

“Dad says that she was somehow pinned to the ceiling and burned. We weren’t really sure if we believed him until a few years ago when Sam’s girlfriend was killed the same way.” Lexi explained with a sad smile. “The Yellow-Eyed Demon, Azazel, killed my mother and many other moms because he was collecting special children for the war… or so he said.”

 

“Meaning?”

 

“I dunno… it just seemed so strange, you know? I mean, even though he made all of these other children into demonic soldiers, he was always so focused on Sam.”

 

“You think there’s more to the story?”

 

“Maybe, I dunno.” The blonde sighed. “My dad spent every moment since mom died hunting Azazel and in the end, he didn’t even get to kill him.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“He died about a year after we got Sammy back into the life.” Lexi chuckled sadly, “Everything was so simple back then. We went to Stanford, grabbed Sammy, and were back on the road, hunting and searching for dad. It was only when we finally got the Colt - a gun that can kill anything - that dad sold his soul to save Dean from dying.”

 

“What happened after that? I mean, you said Dean sold his soul.”

 

“Sam had been taken by Azazel and put with other special children. It was supposed to be a fight to the death or something like that.” Lexi sighed, “Just as we thought Sam was safe, we were so close to bringing him home, one of the other kids stabbed him in the back, severed his spinal cord. He bled out in our arms and-and we couldn’t….”

 

The Doctor put his hand over Lexi’s pain in his heart when he saw how distraught she was. “You don’t have continue, Lexi.”

 

“I need to get it out, Doctor. We never talk in my family, we just… keep it all in.” Lexi let out a breath. “I’m twenty eight years old and I have so much guilt, I have seen and caused so much death, and I just…” 

 

“Lex…”

 

“Dean sold his soul for Sam and we spent the next year searching for a way to save him from a deal that there was no saving him from. Then, after constant searching, Dean was mauled to death by Hellhounds and dragged down to Hell.” Lexi sniffled, “After that, Sam insisted that we bury his body instead of burning his body like we do with hunters. He was convinced that he needed when he came back and… and I couldn’t stand being there anymore, so I left.”

 

“And you moved to England?”

 

“Alec and I were friends when we were kids. Our dads were both hunters that worked together a lot, so we spent a lot of time together.” Lexi said with a fond smile. “Then, Alec’s dad decided that he wanted to get his son out of the life and moved them to England. We kept in contact as much as we could.”

 

“Well, I’m glad you moved here.” The Doctor said with a grin that Lexi returned.

 

“Me too.”

 

Once they were done eating, Lexi and the Doctor wandered back to the TARDIS, their hands brushing together every few steps. When they arrived in the box, Lexi went to sit on the jump seat while the Doctor fiddled with some of the equipment on the console.

 

“So… I was thinkin’.” The Doctor started after a little bit of silence. “I took you into the future so… maybe you would fancy a trip into the past?”

 

Lexi grinned and jumped up off of the jump seat, moving to the Doctor’s side. “What did you have in mind?”


	5. The Unquiet Dead

The TARDIS was shuddering and shaking, making standing normally quite difficult as the Doctor piloted the ship with some minor assistance from Lexi.

“Hold that one down!” The Doctor called out, his eyes wide.

Lexi scoffed and gave him a look. “I'm holding this one down.”

“Well, hold them both down.”

“It's not going to work.” Lexi sighed before lifting her leg and holding down the button with her foot. “Sorry, girl.”

“Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting.” The Doctor exclaimed before grinning. “Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?” 

Lexi frowned, trying to think of what happened in that year. “What happened in 1860?” 

“I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!” The Doctor flipped a switch and a few moments later, the TARDIS materialized, the landing somewhat rough. With a groan, Lexi rolled onto her front and shifted to that she was sitting on her knees.

“Holy shit.” Lexi laughed.

“You’re telling me. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I think so. Nothing broken.” Lexi replied, doing a quick check of herself as she stood. 

“Did we make it? Where are we?”

“I did it. Give the man a medal.” The Doctor said proudly with a grin as he checked the monitor on the console. “Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860.” 

“That's so weird.” Lexi hummed, “It's Christmas.”

The Doctor gestured to the doors, “All yours.”

“This is so bizarre.” Lexi laughed. “Christmas. 1860. Happens once, just once and it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still.”

The Doctor shrugged, grin never leaving his face. “Not a bad life.”

“Better with two.” The blonde mused before turning towards the doors. “Come on, then.”

“Hey, where do you think you're going?” 

“1860,” Lexi replied slowly.

“Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella.” The Doctor said, gesturing to Lexi’s attire, which made her scoff at him. “There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!”

 

||||||||||

 

Lexi stepping into the room, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Clearing her throat, Lexi watched as the Doctor popped out from under the console, his eyes wide when he saw her.

“Blimey!” 

The dress was purple, sweetheart neckline and had dark purple three quarter length sleeves. The underskirt was a lighter purple than the top and the slightly shorter skirt that laid over top of it. The dress wasn’t fancy but showed that, if she lived in that time, she did have money. If anything, she figured it would be better than choosing something that would ensure she would never enter some of the more glamorous buildings.

Shifting awkwardly once more, Lexi fought the urge to play with her hair, which was curled and half up in a semi-elaborate style that was held by a gorgeous pin that matched the dress perfectly. Since she couldn’t touch her hair - fearing it would be ruined - she fiddled with her necklace, which was a simple silver locket with a matching bracelet and earrings.

“Don’t laugh.”

“You look beautiful.” The Doctor said, sounding somewhat breathless. “Well, considering…”

“Considering what?” Lexi demanded, her eyes narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips in challenge. Seeing her expression, the Doctor smiled sheepishly and dust off his hands.

“That you’re human.”

Lexi narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before rolling them and making her way down the stairs. “Aren't you going to change?”

The Doctor pulled at his shirt, “I've changed my jumper. Come on.” 

Humming, Lexi pushed past the Doctor and blocked his path with a smirk. “You stay there. You've done this before. This is mine.”

Pulling the doors open, Lexi gasped in excitement when she saw that it was snowing. Stepping out of the TARDIS, Lexi grinned happily as she turned in circles, her arms stretched out. “So?”

“This is awesome!” Lexi giggled, linking her arm with the Doctor’s when she reached his side, resting her head on his shoulder for a moment. “Anything exciting happening tonight? Well, besides Christmas, of course.”

“Hmm, let’s find out.” The Doctor hummed, detaching himself from Lexi to buy a newspaper. While he dealt with that, Lexi scanned the area, her smile never leaving her face as she sauntered further down the street. “I got the flight a bit wrong.”

“I don’t care,” Lexi said as he reached her side, frowning at the paper.

“It's not 1860, it's 1869.”

“I don't care.”

The Doctor continued, “And it's not Naples.” 

“I don't care.”

“It's Cardiff.” Lexi stopped in her tracks and looked over at the Doctor, a look of disbelief on her face. 

“Right. We need to work on your driving, then.” The Doctor looked mildly offended, but Carina carried on down the street, her arm looped with his. Not a moment later, however, their peaceful walk interrupted by screams. Stopping in their tracks, the duo shared a look.

“That’s more like it!” The Doctor exclaimed as he dragged Lexi towards the theatre, her hand clutched in his. It was at that moment that Lexi was thankful she had worn her boots instead of shoes of that time period.

Once inside the theatre, Lexi and the Doctor were pushed and shoved as patrons hurried from the building, crying out in terror. Standing near the wall, the Doctor and Lexi surveyed the area, only for the duo to gasp when they saw the blue wisps in the air.

“Fantastic!” The Doctor exclaimed happily, moving closer to the stage as Lexi continued to scan the crowd until her eyes caught sight of an older man and a young woman picking up an old woman. 

“What the hell are the two of you doing?! Leave her alone!” When the duo showed no sign of listening, Lexi groaned in annoyance.  “Doctor! I’m going after them!”

“Be careful!” The Doctor called back before turning his attention back to the man next to him. 

With a huff, Lexi turned and gathered up the skirt of her dress, running after the old man and young woman. Flying out the main doors, Lexi did a quick sweep of the street with her eyes and saw the pair loading the body into a Hurst. Narrowing her eyes at the sight, Lexi hurried down the stairs and over to the Hurst.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The young woman startled and turned to face Lexi nervously, using her body to shield the door to the Hurst. “Oh, it's a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself. Me and the master will deal with it. The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary.”

Pushing the girl aside, Lexi examined the body, shocked to find that she was, in fact, dead. From how cold she was, Lexi could only guess she had been dead for hours, if not a day. “She's cold. She's dead! Oh my God, what'd you do to her?” 

While her attention was on the girl and the dead body, Lexi failed to notice the old man sneaking up behind her. It was only when the cloth was over her mouth and nose that Lexi tried to struggle, but found senses growing hazy until she collapsed into the man’s hold, unconscious. 

 

||||||||||

 

Lexi’s mind felt hazy as she woke, like the times she and Dean had drunk themselves to sleep or the many times she had been knocked unconscious by the various monsters she hunted. With a groan, the huntress sat up, only to be greeted with the chilling realization that she was laying in an open coffin, in a room with another dead body. Grimacing, Lexy clambered out of the box with little grace - she was in a dress, damn it! There was no grace to be had in the mountain of fabric she was wearing. The Huntress did a quick sweep of the room, only to freeze when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning slowly, she let out a gasp when she saw the corpse sitting up.

“Son of a bitch.” She muttered, backing away from the reanimated body. “Shit. Okay. Um… can you speak? Can you understand me?” When he said nothing, Lexi hissed in annoyance and ran to the door, tugging on the handle, but nothing came of it. “Oh, for the love of- OPEN THE DOOR!”

The body was getting closer and closer as Lexi banged on the door and yelled for the door to be unlocked. When she realized no one was coming, Lexi turned and went to pull out a knife when the corpse grabbed her, pulling her close. Just as she was about to pull herself free, the door was kicked open.

“I think this is my dance.” The Doctor pulled Lexi away from the corpse and into his arms, holding her tightly to his side.

“It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence.” Lexi frowned over the Doctor’s shoulder at the man.

“No, we're not. The dead are walking.” The Doctor replied before looking down at Lexi with a wide grin on his face. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Lexi breathed before jerking her chin to the man behind them. “Who's your friend?” 

“Charles Dickens.” 

Lexi nodded slowly. “Right.”

The Doctor hugged Lexi closer to his side as he turned his attention to the reanimated corpse before them, “My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?” 

Lexi got an uneasy feeling as the corpse’s mouth open and a thousand voices spilled out, all speaking the same words at the same time. “Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us. Argh!” The gas left the corpses and returned to the gas lamp, leaving them to collapse to the floor.

“Well, that’s surprisingly normal for me.” Lexi mused, making the Doctor snort with laughter. “What are we going to do now, Doctor? I’m assuming we’ll need to figure out a way to stop this from happening.”

“Yeah, probably.” Steering Lexi out of the room, the Doctor led her and Charles Dickens into the Sitting Room, where the old man and young woman were sitting. Once there, Lexi untangled herself from the Doctor and stormed over to the old man as the young woman seemed to be making tea.

“Hey, asshole!”

“Wha-”

“First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man.”

The man looked indignant and somewhat shocked. “I won't be spoken to like this!”

Scoffing, Lexi continued. “Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you on principle, you son of a bitch. So come on, talk!”

“It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dearly departed started getting restless.”

“Tommyrot.” Dickens scoffed, making Lexi roll her eyes as she moved to stand with the Doctor.

“You witnessed it.” The man said, almost pleadingly. “Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps.”

“Two sugars, sir, just how you like it.” The young woman said as she placed a teacup and saucer on the mantelpiece. Lexi narrowed her eyes at the girl, feeling as if there was something off about her, but said nothing. 

“One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned.” The old man continued on the other side of the room. 

“Morbid fancy.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Oh, Charles, you were there.”

“I saw nothing but an illusion.”

“If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up.” Lexi placed her hand on the Doctor’s arm, silencing him.

“What about the gas?”

“That's new, miss. Never seen anything like that.” The old man replied. 

“Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through.”

Lexi’s brows furrowed. “Rift?”

“A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time.” The Doctor explained.

“And the rest of the time it’s actual spirits.” Lexi mused quietly so only the Doctor could hear her. “Those I know how to deal with.”

“That's how I got the house so cheap.” The old man said. “Stories going back generations.” 

Dickens moved from his spot and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Lexi raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, who shrugged in return. 

“Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine.” Lexi sent the old man a look before turning her attention back to the Doctor.

“I’m gonna go’n talk to ol’ Charlie. If ya don’ like Sneed, the girl, Gwyneth’ll probably be better company.” Lexi nodded and let the Doctor press a gentle kiss to her forehead before striding out of the room. Once he was out of sight, Lexi left the room as well and made her way through the house until she found herself in the pantry with the girl, Gwyneth. Humming to herself, Lexi entered and moved to the sink to start washing the dishes, only to freeze when Gwyneth put her hand on hers.

“Please, miss, you shouldn't be helping. It's not right.”

“Don't be ridiculous. Sneed works you to death.” Lexi scoffed, “How much do you get paid?” 

“Eight pounds a year, miss.”

Lexi’s mouth dropped open. “How much?”

“I know. I would've been happy with six.” 

Lexi looked at her like she was crazy, but carried on anyway, somewhat curious about her. “So, did you go to school or what?”

Gwyneth looked offended. “Of course I did. What do you think I am, an urchin? I went every Sunday, nice and proper.

“What, once a week?”

“We did sums and everything,” Gwyneth said with a nod. “To be honest, I hated every second.” 

Lexi snorted, “Me too.”

“Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own.” 

“I did plenty of that.” Lexi reminisced with a laugh. My brother, Dean, and I used to skip out sometimes. It’s not like we were at any of the schools very long… but those moments were free and happy. We used to go and look at boys and girls, depending on our mood.”

Gwyneth clammed up. “Well, I don't know much about that, miss.”

“Come on, times haven't changed that much. I bet you've done the same.” 

“I don't think so, miss.”

“Gwyneth, you can tell me. I bet you've got your eye on someone.” Lexi pried with a teasing smile.

A shy smile crept slowly onto Gwyneth’s face. “I suppose. There is one lad. The butcher’s boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him.”

“I like a nice smile.” Lexi sighed, a small smile on her face.  Good smile, nice ass… and nice tits on a woman are always nice.” 

Gwyneth looked startled at her words. “Well, I have never heard the like.”

Lexi laughed, “Ask him out. Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start.”

“I swear it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing.”

“Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing.” Lexi said with a shrug. “You need a bit more in your life than Mister Sneed.”

“Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve.”

Lexi winced awkwardly. “Oh, I'm sorry.”

“Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your parents and Dean are up there waiting for you too, miss.”

Lexi snorted, “Unlikely.” But then she paused, thinking about what the girl had said. “Er, who told you he was dead?” 

“I don't know. Must have been the Doctor.”

“My mom and dad died years back, Dean a few months ago,” Lexi said quietly.

“But you've been thinking about him lately more than ever.” 

Lexi snapped out of her thoughts, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “I suppose so. How do you know all this?”

“Mister Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?”

Lexi snorted, shaking her head. “No, no servants where I'm from.”

“And you've come such a long way.”

“What makes you think so?”

“You're from America originally, but now you live in London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half-naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you've seen. The darkness, the big bad wolf and the lonely goddess-” Lexi took an alarmed step back. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry, miss.”

The blonde took a shaky breath but nodded reassuringly. “It's all right.”

“I can't help it.” Gwyneth looked ashamed. “Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it.”

“But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?” Lexi pushed down the instinct to draw her weapon at the sudden voice behind her when she recognized it as the Doctor’s

“All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head.”

The Doctor moved further into the room, his hand coming to rest on the small of Lexi’s back. “You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key.”

“I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts.”

“Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."

“What to do where, sir?”

The Doctor grinned in excitement and Lexi knew she wasn’t going to like the next words that were going to come out of the Doctor’s mouth. “We're going to have a seance.”

Ah, and she was right. She really didn’t like his plan.

 

||||||||||

 

The Doctor had gathered everyone in the sitting room and had them sit around the table for Gwyneth, who seemed anxious as Lexi was just aggravated. 

“This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town,” Gwyneth explained setting her hands on the table, palms up. “Come, we must all join hands.”

“I can't take part in this.” Dickens shook his head.

“Humbug?” The Doctor called, “Come on, open mind.”

“This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeezebox concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing.”

“Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium.”

Lexi groaned, rubbing her hand over her face. “I can't believe you just said that.”

“Come on, we might need you.” The Doctor continued, a grin breaking out across her face as Dickens sat down between Lexi and Gwyneth. “Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out.”

Gwyneth closed her eyes as the group linked hands. Much to Lexi’s displeasure, she was sat between Sneed and Dickens, whose grip on her hands were tight“Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden.” 

Lexi tensed as whispering began. “Can you hear that?”

“Nothing can happen.” Dickens denied. “This is sheer folly.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Look at her.”

“I see them. I feel them.” Blue tendrils of gas drifted above their heads, making Lexi nervous.

“What's it saying?”

“They can't get through the rift.” The Doctor realized, looking to the young woman.” Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through.”

“I can't!”

“Doctor, this is a bad idea.” Lexi murmured, not liking how things were going. Unfortunately, it seemed the Doctor was ignoring her.

“Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link.”

“Yes.” Gwyneth breathed as ghostly figures appeared behind her.

“Great God! Spirits from the other side.” Sneed exclaimed.

“The other side of the universe.” The Doctor corrected as Lexi shook her head.

“ _ Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us. _ ” The ghostly figures spoke with childlike voices, which made Lexi even more uncomfortable.

‘What do you want us to do?’ 

“ _ The Rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge. _ ”

“What for?” The Doctor asked.

“ _ We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction. _ ”

“Why, what happened?”

“ _ Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came. _ ”

“War? What war?” Dickens asked in confusion.

” _ The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state. _ ”

“So that's why you need the corpses.” The Doctor mused.

“ _ We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us. _ ”

Lexi shook her head. She needed to put a stop to it before it went wrong like she knew it would. “But we can't.” 

“Why not?”

“It's not. I mean, it's not…” Lexi was trying to find the right words without bringing the people around her further into the horrible world she’s been in pretty much her entire life.

“Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives.” The Doctor asked, making Lexi scoff.

“ _ Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth. _ ” The Gelth dissipated and streamed back into the gas lamps, making Gwyneth collapse across the table.

“Gwyneth?” Lexi called out to the young woman.

“All true…” Dickens whispered as Lexi rounded the table and helped Gwyneth up.

“Are you okay?”

“It's all true.” Lexi rolled her eyes and led Gwyneth to the chaise longue. Laying her down, Lexi murmured soothing words to the girl.

“It's all right. You just sleep.”

“But my angels, miss,” Gwyneth argued, trying to sit up. “They came, didn't they? They need me?”

“They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival.”

“Leave her alone, Doctor. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles.” Lexi snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously with something the Doctor what never seen on her before. The blonde turned back to Gwyneth and brought a cup to her lips. “Drink this.”

“Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?”

“Aliens.” The Doctor said simply.

“Like foreigners, you mean?” Sneed asked, confused.

“Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there.”

“Brecon?”

“Close.” The Doctor shrugged. “And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes.”

“Which is why they need the girl.” Dickens mused.

“They're not having her.” Lexi snapped, glaring at the Doctor.

“But she can help.” The Doctor insisted. “Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through.”

“Incredible.” Dickens breathed. “Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers.”

“Good system. It might work.”

“You can't let them run around inside of dead people.” Lexi insisted.

The Doctor looked Lexi in both frustration and curiosity. “Why not? It's like recycling.”

“Seriously though, you can't.”

“Seriously though, I can.”

“This isn’t right, Doctor!” Lexi said in frustration, willing him to understand. “I don’t think you get what I did back home, but this is the kind of shit that my brothers and I stopped. Do you even realize what possession does to people? If it doesn’t kill them, it destroys them. You can’t seriously trust that they’ll come peacefully just because they’ve mentioned their hardships during the Time War!”

The Doctor didn’t seem to even register her words. “Do you carry a donor card?”

“What the fuck has that got to do with anything?!” Lexi exclaimed throwing her hands up in their air. “We’re talking about a species neither of us knew about before that are trying to come through some rift to take over bodies! How can you see the good in this?”

“You didn’t answer my question, Alexis.”

Lexi scoffed, glaring furiously at him. “I never had a fucking home long enough to think about pointless shit like that. I’m not a civilian,  _ Doctor _ . I’m a Hunter and I’ll be set on a pyre when I die. Ashes to ashes. My body will only ever be my own, like it should be.”

“This is a different mortality, Alexis. Get used to it or go home. You heard what they said, time’s short. I can’t worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying.”

“I don't care. They're not using her.” 

“Don't I get a say, miss?”

Lexi whirled around, her hands clenched as she looked down at the girl. “Look, you don't understand what's going on.”

“You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid.”

“If you’re inside my head, then you should know exactly what I’m talking about. And yet, here you are, making a bullshit decision because of something you believe to be true when the reality is so much worse.” Gwyneth went to speak, but Lexi continued. “You’re pushing out anything that could disprove that your so-called ‘angels’ are good, but you need to understand that angels don’t possess bodies, Gwyneth. But you know who does? Especially without permission? Demons. Creatures from Hell that don’t care if you’re a good Catholic girl or the scum of the street. They’ll kill you no matter who you are with a smile on their face.” When no one spoke, Lexi just shook her head. “You might think that I’m being cruel, but this is the reality of the situation. Take anything they say with a grain of salt.”

“Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me.” Lexi threw her hands up in the air and muttered to herself about stupid civilians. “Doctor, what do I have to do?”

“You don't have to do anything.” The Doctor replied carefully, eyeing Lexi as if she was a wild animal.

“They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me.”

“Gwyneth, please. They aren’t Angels, you need to understand that. They’re Demons and they aren’t here for anything good.” Lexi tried one more time, but nothing would come of it.

“We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?”

“That would be the morgue.”

Lexi scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “For course it’s the fucking morgue. Where the hell else could it be?” 

Lexi descended into the basement last, having taken moment to attempt to calm herself before going down. She couldn’t believe that they were actually going through with allowing the Gelth to possess bodies. What if they decided corpses weren’t enough? The Doctor could only see the possible good, not the horrible bad that would inevitably occur.

The cold basement was eery and there were multiple tables with the recently departed lying under white sheets. Although Lexi was used to death and corpses, she had always hated morgues.

“Doctor, I think the room is getting colder.”

“Here they come,” Lexi muttered, arms crossed over her chest as the blue wisps of the Gelth blew through the air and into the stone archway.

“ _ You've come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him. _ ” 

“Promise you won't hurt her,” Lexi demanded, but she was ignored.

“ _ Hurry! Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth. _ ” 

“I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?”

“My angels.” Gwyneth breathed. “I can help them live.”

“Okay, where's the weak point?”

“ _ Here, beneath the arch. _ ”

“Beneath the arch.” Gwyneth moved to stand beneath the arch, inside the blue wisps.

“You don't have to do this.” Lexi insisted, but Gwyneth was too far gone.

“My angels.”

“ _ Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through! _ ”

“Yes, I can see you. I can see you. Come!”

“ _ Bridgehead establishing. _ ” 

“Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!”

“ _ It is begun. The bridge is made. _ ” Gwyneth opened her mouth and blue gas emerged.

“ _ She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend. _ ” The sweet, innocent blue quickly turned into a flaming, angry red and the figures grew sharp teeth as the voice turned deep and hard. “ _ The Gelth will come through in force. _ ”

“You said that you were few in number.” Dickens gasped.

“ _ A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses. _ ” The corpses in the room stood from their places on the tables and Lexi’s stance became more defensive.

“Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you!” Sneed called to Gwyneth, but there was no use.

“Mister Sneed, get back!” A corpse grabbed Sneed by the neck and snapped it. A Gelth forced its way down his throat and Lexi growled in annoyance. She had known something like this would happen. 

“I think it's gone a little bit wrong.” Lexi scoffed as they backed away from the reanimated corpses.

“ _ I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come, march with us. _ ” Sneed’s body said.

“No.”

“ _ We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead. _ ” 

“Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!” The Doctor commanded, but it fell on deaf ears.

“ _ Three more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth. _ ” What remained of Sneed advanced on Lexi and the Doctor until they were pressed up against a metal gate.

“Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so-” Dickens ran out of the room and the duo closed themselves behind the metal gate, keeping themselves away from the corpses’ reaching hands. 

“ _ Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth. _ ”

“I trusted you. I pitied you!” The Doctor yelled, furious. 

“ _ We don't want your pity. We want this world and all its flesh. _ ”

“Not while I'm alive.”

“ _ Then live no more. _ ” 

“If we get out of this, you and I are having words.” Lexi hissed angrily as she pushed herself further against the wall.

“I'm sorry.” The Doctor whispered, his hand brushing against hers.

“I’m just taking a wild guess here, but I’m assuming it doesn’t matter that we’re in 1869. I’ll die anyway.”

The Doctor nodded solemnly. “Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it's all my fault. I brought you here.”

“I wanted to come, Doctor. The only thing you’re at fault for is not listening when I tell you that something is wrong.” Lexi sighed, “I always figured I’d die on a job.”

“What about me? I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon in Cardiff.” The Doctor’s face screwed up in disgust.

“It's not just dying. We'll become one of them.” Lexi sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. “We'll go down fighting, yeah?”

"Yeah.”

“Together?”

“Yeah.”

The Doctor laced his fingers with Lexi’s, smiling softly at her. “I'm so glad I met you.”

“Me too.”

Suddenly, Dickens ran into the morgue. “Doctor! Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!” 

“What're you doing?” The Doctor asked in confusion.

“Turn it all on. Flood the place!”

“Brilliant. Gas!”

Lexi coughed, “What, so we choke to death instead?”

“Am I correct, Doctor?” Dickens asked. “These creatures are gaseous.”

“Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!”

The corpses moved away from the gate and began stumbling towards Dickens. “I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately.”

“Plenty more!” The Doctor ripped a gas pipe from the wall and the Gelf left the corpses. 

“It's working.” Dickens gasped as the Doctor and Lexi stepped out of the alcove. Lexi stumbled into the Doctor’s side and he wrapped an arm around her, keeping her steady as he brought her over to were Dickens was.

“Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They're not angels.” 

“Liars?”Gwyneth repeated in a childlike voice.

“Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength.”The Doctor said. “Now send them back!”

Lexi wheezed, trying to breathe as she slumped further into the Doctor’s side. ”I can't breathe.” 

“Charles, get her out.” The Doctor commanded, but Lexi shook her head.

“I'm not leaving you.”

“They're too strong.” Gwyneth murmured.

“Remember that world you saw? Lexi's world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift.”

“I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out.” Gwyneth took out a box of matches from her apron pocket and Lexi gasped, realizing what she was going to do.

“Gwyneth…”

“Leave this place!”

“Lex, get out. Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!” Dickens helped Lexi up the stairs and outside, making sure that she remained upright the entire time. Once they were outside, Lexi hugged herself to keep warm, waiting anxiously for the Doctor.

Moments later, the Doctor ran out of the building and went flying as the building exploded. Lexi shielded herself from the blast. As soon as it was clear, Lexi ran over to the Doctor, helping him up from the floor.

“She didn't make it, did she?”

The Doctor shook his head. “I'm sorry. She closed the rift.”

Dickens frowned, “At such a cost. The poor child.” 

“I did try, Lexi, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes.”

Lexi cocked her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch.”

“She was dead but there was an echo of her soul that remained in the arch because of the possession.” Lexi mused, nodding her head slowly. “I guess she did end up fixing her mistakes.”

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor.”

“She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know.” The blonde sighed as the trio started down the street in the direction of the TARDIS.

“Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long.” The Doctor said with a grin once they’d arrived close to the blue box.

“What are you going to do now?” Lexi asked curiously.

“I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital.”

“You've cheered up.” The Doctor commented with a nod of his head.

“Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started.” Dickens looked excited, as if he was brimming with ideas. “All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them.”

Lexi narrowed her eyes slightly. “Do you think that's wise?”

“I shall be subtle at first,” Dickens explained. “The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth.”

“Good luck with it. Nice to meet you. Fantastic.”

“Bye, then, and thanks.” Lexi stepped forward and kissed the man’s cheek, letting out a laugh when his cheeks went pink.

“Oh, my dear. How modern.” Dickens stuttered, placing his hand on his cheek. “Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?”

“You'll see.” The Doctor grinned before looking over at Lexi. “In the shed.”

“Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?” Dickens asked looking both curious and mystified. 

“Just a friend passing through.” 

“But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?”

“Oh, yes!”

“For how long?” Lexi could see that the question was one that was so very important to him.

“Forever.” Dickens’ shoulders sagged in relief and Lexi smiled as the Doctor turned to look at her. “Right. Shed. Come on, Lex.”

“In the box? Both of you?” Lexi laughed and looked over at the Doctor, whose cheeks seemed to have tinted pink.

“Down boy. See you.” The Doctor and Lexi stepped into the TARDIS and shut the door. Making their way up to the console, the Doctor l flicked on the monitor and they watched Charles Dickens staring at the box in wonder.

“He never gets to write his story. He dies in 1870.” Lexi said with a sad frown. “It’s sort of sad, in a way.”

“Perhaps. But in your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise.” The Doctor said, sending Lexi a grin as he sent the TARDIS into flight. On the screen, Dickens’ eyes went wide and he stumbled back in shock as the TARDIS dematerialized.

_ Merry Christmas, Charles Dickens. _


	6. Yellow Fever

When they were finally in flight, Lexi stepped away from the console and moved towards the stairs, only to stop when the Doctor called out to her. “Hey! Where’re ya goin’?” 

Letting out a sigh, Lexi turned slightly to look at the Time Lord. “I’m going to get changed. Problem?”

The Doctor looked confused with her attitude as if he didn’t remember their argument from before. “Lex, I-”

“Look, I’m going to make this plain and simple.” The Doctor’s mouth snapped shut and he nodded slightly. “I’m a Hunter, I probably do things differently than you, and that’s fine. But when you totally ignore my warning of something I know to be morally and ethically wrong, that pisses me off. I’ve been doing this shit since I was way too young and I like to think I’m pretty good at it.” The Doctor had the grace to look ashamed, but Lexi carried on, voicing her frustration. “What happened to Gwyneth and what would have happened to the rest of the world was possession, plain and simple. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the kind of monsters I hunt, but ghosts and Demons that possess people never do it because they’re nice. They always have some sort of evil agenda and they never have to ask for permission to take over someone’s body. They’ll manipulate the most well-meaning people in order to get what they want without any regard for the consequences and that is why my family hunts them and puts them down before they can kill more than they already have. My world isn’t nice and rarely gives you a happy feeling, but we do it because it keeps civilians safe. If you don’t like how I work, drop me off where you found me and I’ll go back to my life there.”

Fixing the Doctor with one last look, Lexi turned and made her way to her room, ignoring the sound of the Doctor scrambling after her. When Lexi entered her room, she froze when she heard her phone chime with a voicemail. Moving over to her bedside table, the blonde scooped it up and unlocked it, seeing that she had five missed calls. Rolling her eyes, she called her voicemail and waited for them to start playing.

“ _ You have five new wireless voice messages. First new message;” _

“ _ Hey Lex, it’s me. I-uh… we need to talk. Something’s happened and I think you’re gonna want to see it. Call me back when you get this. _ ” Lexi frowned when she heard the nervousness in Sam’s voice. There was something about it that made her curious as the next message played.

“ _ Hey Lex, it’s Sam… again. Look, I know that we kinda left things at a bad spot, but I really need to talk to you. Please, Lexi. Call me back. _ ” Two strange messages were almost enough to make her worried. Almost.

“ _ Alexis Winchester, where in the hell are you? Your brother has been callin’ you and your roommate has no idea where in the hell you are! We’re worried, Lexi. Call my cell phone when you get this, it’s important. _ ” Lexi grimaced at Bobby’s tone. That was a tone she hated being on the wrong side of.

“ _ Lexi, you need to call us back right now. There’s some crap goin’ down and we need your help. Call me back when you get this, ya idjit. _ ” Lexi held back a chuckle at the term he used as she heard the Doctor enter her room carefully. She didn’t turn around to acknowledge him, but she didn’t throw him out either.

“ _ Lexi… it’s Dean. I know that you went to England after I died but… I’m back. I got pulled outta hell on your birthday and I wanted to call you, but Sam and Bobby told be to leave you alone.” He sighed. “I’m sorry for making you go through this, but I need you to come back. There’s some serious shit going down and it’s making us nervous. I could use my little sister here to make sure I don’t do anything stupid. We’ve set up base at Bobby’s so... _ ” He paused, there were murmurs in the background. “ _ Look, I gotta go, but… call me back, please. I need you here. _ ”

Lexi stared down at her phone in shock, tears in her eyes. She couldn’t believe that her brother was back. How could that be possible? As she stared down at it, she heard the Doctor come up behind her. “Are you alright?” He asked, making a sob escape her throat. “Lexi?”

“M-my brother… he’s alive.” Lexi stuttered as she allowed herself to be turned around, her eyes wide and wet with tears.

“Your elder brother, Dean? I thought you said-”

“H-he was dead but… he called me. My big brother is alive a-and he called me-”

“When and where?” The Doctor interrupted, looking down at her with a determined expression.

“U-um… Robert Singer’s home. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States.”

“Date?”

“Uh-um… three days after you picked me up, I think.” The Doctor nodded and began to back away.

“Change your clothes, we’ll be there by the time you’re back.” Nodding in thanks, Lexi turned and began stripping out of the dress she wore. By the time she was free of the dress and accessories, there was already a set of clothes sitting on her bed. Murmuring a quick thanks, Lexi threw the dress aside and took her hair out of it’s updo before changing her undergarments and throwing on the new clothes. Once she was dressed, Lexi quickly tucked her gun in the waistband of her jeans and tucked her knives in their designated spots.

“I can do this,” Lexi muttered to herself, shrugging Dean’s coat on before racing back to the Doctor. Once she was in the consol room, Lexi saw that he was just landing the TARDIS. “We here?” 

“I-uh… I think I may have overshot by a few weeks…” Lexi just sighed and rolled her eyes making her way to the door.

“We need to work on your driving skills.” Before the Doctor could reply, Lexi threw open the door and marched out, only to freeze when she had a gun pointed in her face. “Hello to you too, Bobby.”

“The hell is that? Where the hell did it come from? Where have you-”

“Bobby, please calm down.” Lexi sighed, lowering the gun from her face. “Look, I’ll explain everything after you explain to me how the hell my big brother rose from his grave.”

Bobby frowned at Lexi, only to push her behind him and raise his gun when the door to the Police Box opened, revealing the Doctor. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the Doctor.” He smiled, greeting Bobby with a wave. 

“The Doctor?”

Lexi sighed and rolled her eyes, snatching Bobby’s gun from him and clicking the safety on. “I don’t have time for this right now. Where are my brothers, Bobby?”

“There’s some things you gotta know first, Lexi.”

“Like what?”

“An Angel pulled your brother out of the pit.”

“An Ang- No. If there were Angels, then-”

“Then nothing, Alexis. Dean didn’t believe it either, but it’s true. Everything from the Bible, it’s true-”

“Bobby, come on. Even if that were true, I-I can’t trust that they’re here purely to help. If they’ve never shown themselves before, then they’ve come because of something terrible, and that is never good when you’re in this family.”

“I know that Alexis, but you have to trust me on this.” Lexi sighed and rolled her eyes, staring at Bobby for a moment before nodding.

“Fine. But I still don’t like it.” Bobby nodded and made his way back into the house. Lexi went to follow but was stopped when the Doctor put his hand on her shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

Lexi gave him a small smile and shrugged. “Eventually.”

The Doctor nodded and let her go, walking slightly behind her as they made their way into the house. Once they were inside, Lexi immediately went to pull Bobby into a hug, only to have holy water thrown into her face. 

“I’m not a Demon, asshole. Just because I’ve been gone four months, that doesn’t mean that I’ve been possessed.” Bobby pulled out a knife and she rolled her eyes. “If you cut me I’m gonna be really upset, Bobby.” The older man gave her a look and Lexi pulled out her own knife, running it across her wrist in irritation. “Happy? Can we get to the part where you tell me where the hell my idiot brothers have gone?”

“Sorry, Alexis. Just had to be sure.”

She nodded and rubbed her hand down her face. “So. Brothers, where have they wandered off to?”

“Rock Ridge, Colorado,” Bobby replied, grimace appearing on his face. “There’s a bit of a problem though.”

“What have they done now?” Lexi sighed, her shoulders slumped. Her brothers always seemed to be getting into some sort of trouble.

“Dean was infected with Ghost Sickness.”

“Son of a bitch.” Lexi groaned.

“Ghost Sickness?” The Doctor asked, confused.

Bobby went to explain, but Lexi cut him off. “It’s a sickness spread by a specific class of spirit known as the Buru Buru. To be infected, the victim has to have contact with either the ghost’s body or the body of another vic. They also have to share a specific personality trait with the original killer of the Buru Buru. Because of this, not everyone who comes in contact with a Buruburu or someone with ghost sickness is susceptible to the virus.”

Bobby looked somewhat shocked at Lexi’s knowledge but took it in stride. “It manifests as nightmares and subtle signs of irrational fear, which is how I knew what it was… but how did you?”

“Unlike my brothers, I didn’t stop learning other languages at Latin. I also like to be prepared for anything and have a wide array of knowledge.”

“Right, well… are we goin’ to help ‘em out?” The Doctor asked, an intrigued expression on his face.

“If we are, you’re going to listen to me and do everything I say,” Lexi said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “This isn’t like your adventures. Our goal is to kill the Buru Buru.”

“This is your area of expertise Lex. I am able to learn from my mistakes.”

“When we’re done with this hunt, you’re gonna have to explain to me how it is you two know each other.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

  
  


||||||||||

 

After assuring the Doctor that the TARDIS would be fine in Bobby’s yard, the trio got into Bobby’s car and headed to the Lumber Mill in Rock Ridge, Colorado. As it turned out, the Doctor had never been on a long car ride and found the entire process annoying. To deter him from doing anything stupid, Lexi supplied the Doctor with Binsfeld’s Classification of Demons and a few other books to help him further understand the creatures they hunted.

When they finally arrived at the Lumber Mill, Lexi let out a shaky sigh before stepping out of the car, letting the Doctor lace their fingers together. The duo followed Bobby over to where Sam sat on the Impala.

“Howdy, Sam.” Bobby greeted.

“Hey, Bobby. Thanks for coming so quick-” Sam froze when he saw Lexi approaching. “Lex?”

“Sam.” Lexi greeted with a nod. “It’s been a while.”

“Y-yeah…” Sam looked a bit like a kicked puppy, but Lexi ignored it.

“Where's Dean?”

“Uh, home sick.”

“So, have his hallucinations started yet?” Bobby asked, Sam nodding at his question.

“Yeah, a few hours ago.”

Lexi groaned, “How are we doing on time?” 

“We saw the coroner about 8:00 a.m. Monday morning, so, uh...just under two hours. What about you? You find anything?”

“This uh, encyclopedia of spirits dates to the Edo period.” Lexi snorted when Sam looked at the book in confusion.

“You can read Japanese?”

“You can’t?” Lexi asked in amusement as Bobby replied in Japanese, making Lexi even more amused.

“Guess so, show-off.”

“Anyway, this book lists a kind of ghost that could be our guy. It uh, infects people with fear. It's called a Buru Buru.” Lexi explained, taking the book back from Sam.

“It say how to kill it?”

Bobby shrugged. “Same as usual. Burn the remains.”

Sam sighed in frustration. “Wonderful. Uh...is there a Plan B?”

Lexi ran her fingers through her hair. “Well, the Buru Buru is born of fear. Hell, it is fear. And the lore says we can kill it with fear.”

“So we have to scare a ghost to death?” Bobby nodded.

“Pretty much.” 

“How the hell we gonna do that?” Sam asked, looking lost.

“How did the Buru Buru die originally?” The Doctor asked, his face showing he had an idea.

“Uh… he was beaten and dragged behind a car with a chain around his neck.” Sam replied, his brows furrowed. “Why?”

 

||||||||||

 

“ _ Hey. _ ” The phone was on speaker and Lexi’s heart sped up when she heard Dean’s voice. It had been far too long.

“Hey! So, uh, just ride out the trip, okay? You're -- you're gonna be fine. We got a plan.” Sam said, Lexi rolling her eyes when he sounded far from normal.

“ _ What is it? _ ”

“Uh, just a good plan, all right? Hang in there.” Sam hung up the phone and turned back to Lexi, Bobby, and the Doctor.

“This is a terrible plan,” Bobby complained, as he had been doing the entire time they’d been setting up.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“I know I said, "scare the ghost to death" but this?”

“Hey, you got a better idea, I'm listening,” Lexi said, sending Bobby a look as she moved over to the chain attached to the Impala.

As Sam entered the building, Lexi slid into the driver's seat of the Impala and started the engine, the Doctor climbing into the passenger side. Lexi watched as the Doctor’s eyes roved over every inch of the interior, taking everything in.

“We practically lived in here our entire lives.” Lexi murmured, her eyes shifting to the road. “After the fire, we never had a stable home, but we always had Baby.”

“Baby?”

Lexi laughed, “That’s what Dean calls her.” Looking over at Bobby as he walked over, Lexi cocked her head. “Anything?”

“He couldn’t find him, so he’s plannin’ on makin’ him angry.”

“He’s gonna get himself killed one day.” Lexi muttered, rolling her eyes. Moments later, the walkie-talkie crackled and Sam’s voice came over. 

“ _ Lex, punch it! _ ” Putting the car into gear, Lexi floored the gas pedal as Bobby jumped back. Grinning, Lexi tore down the street as the Doctor looked back at the ghost they were dragging. 

“He’s gone.” The Doctor said when they were almost at the end of the road. Maneuvering the car with ease, Lexi spun the car around and drove back down the road at a slower pace, still grinning.

“What’cha think, Doctor? You just completed your first hunt.” The Doctor chuckled as they came to a stop near Bobby’s car.

“It was certainly something else.”

 

||||||||||

 

After removing the chain from the Impala, Sam hopped in and told them he would meet them in the field just outside of town with Dean. When the tail lights of the Impala were no longer visible, the trio hopped into Bobby’s car and made their way to the designated field, Lexi vibrating with excitement.

Somehow, Sam and Dean had arrived there before them, but Lexi didn’t care. The moment that the car was stopped, she threw open the door and sprinted over to Dean jumping on him. Dean was frozen for a moment, but he quickly recovered and held Lexi to his chest tightly.

“De…” Lexi breathed, her body shaking.

“Lex…” Dean whispered, “You-you’re here.”

“I could say the same for you, you ass.” 

Dean let out a watery laugh, kissing the top of her head. “I listened to your messages.”

“Sorry… it helped me while I was… dealing.” 

“It’s alright, Lex.” Dean kissed the top of her head again before pulling away. “So, who’s your friend.”

“I’m the Doctor.” The Time Lord introduced with a grin.

“This the guy you’ve been hunting with?” Dean asked, making Bobby and Sam look at her in shock.

“Sure, let’s go with that,” Lexi said, sharing a look with the Doctor. “Anyway, your messages sounded important.”

“Uh… yeah. Maybe we can discuss that later?”

“You called me back here for a reason Dean.” Lexi grit out in annoyance. “Let’s not forget the fact that you’re magically back from Hell.”

“Lex-”

“I mean, Angels? Seriously?” Lexi scoffed, shaking her head. 

“I know it sounds like a load of crap, Lex, but it’s true.” Dean insisted, “They’re trying to stop the Demons from breaking the seals.”

“Seals?”

“66 seals to Lucifer’s Cage.” Lexi stared at Dean for a while before shaking her head and taking a beer out of the cooler.

“I’m not sober enough for this shit.” Taking a long drink, Lexi rested her head on the Doctor’s shoulder as the group sat in silence.

After several minutes of uneasy silence, Dean finally spoke up again. “So you guys road-hauled a ghost with a chain?”

“Iron chain etched with spell work.” Sam supplied, “The Doctor came up with the idea.”

“Hmm, that's a new one.”

“It was what he was most afraid of.” The Doctor said with a shrug.

Sam nodded. “It was pretty brutal, though.” 

“On the upside, I'm still alive, so uh, go team!” Dean said, raising his drink awkwardly.

“Yeah. How you feeling, by the way?” Sam asked, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

“Fine.”

“You sure, Dean? 'Cause this line of work can get awful scary.”

“I'm fine. You want to go hunting? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything.”

“Awwww, he's adorable.” Lexi laughed, pinching his cheek, only to have her hand slapped away petulantly.

“I gotta get out of here,” Bobby said, motioning for Lexi and the Doctor to get in the car. “You boys drive safe.”  

“You too, Bobby. Hey, thanks.” Bobby nodded and got into the car as Lexi hugged her brothers.

“Check in a little more regularly, would you?” Lexi asked, sending Sam a meaningful look as she backed up to stand with the Doctor.

“You’ve got her back, right?” Dean asked the Doctor, his face giving away his worry.

“Always, Dean.” The Doctor nodded, putting a hand on the small of her back. “We should get goin’, Lex.”

“Yeah.” Lexi murmured. “I’ll see you around, boys.”

Lexi slid into the front seat and the Doctor into the back. Once they were in the car, Bobby drove off, bringing them back to Sioux Falls.

 

||||||||||

 

When they arrived back in Sioux Falls, the seating plan had changed slightly. Over the course of the hours in the car, Lexi had crawled into the backseat with the Doctor and curled up by his side, a small smile on her face as she fell asleep in his arms.

_ “Lex seems to trust ya.” Bobby said once he was sure the blonde was asleep. “She doesn’t trust easy.” _

_ “We’ve saved each other’s lives a few times, I suppose.”The Doctor mused quietly. “She was a mess when I met her, but she was tryin’ to stay strong, y’know?” _

_ “She grew up not showin’ her emotions, Doctor. Her daddy wanted three little soldiers, so that’s what he made.” _

_ “She told me that her mother was killed by a powerful Demon, that he was the reason her father trained them as hunters.” _

_ “She tell ya anythin’ else?” _

_ “The main things that’ve happened the past few years.” _

_ Bobby made an intrigued noise. “She cares for ya, Doctor. More than she probably realizes. Just don’t hurt her.” _

_ “Never.” _

When Lexi woke, she was in her bed on the TARDIS. Her jacket and shoes had been removed and she was under her blankets. Letting out a confused whine, Lexi stretched and sat up, looking about her room. When she didn’t see the Doctor, Lexi slipped out of bed quickly changed before slipping on her shoes and jacket. Once she was dressed and had freshened up, Lexi left her room and wandered through the TARDIS until she made it to the control room, where she found the Doctor tinkering with something below the control panel. For a moment, the blonde just stood there, watching him. It was only when the TARDIS made a soft warbling noise that he hummed at did Lexi take a step into the room.

“How long was I asleep?”

The Doctor stood from his place under the console and grinned at the Huntress. “Few hours. You fell asleep ‘bout half way back to Sioux Falls, and we got back about… ahh… three hours ago?”

“Hmm, most sleep I’ve gotten in years.” Lexi mused with a grin. “So, where’re we headed next?”

“Dunno. Any requests?”

“Somewhere amazing,” Lexi said with a smile as she moved to stand with the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned in return. “As my lady commands!”


	7. Aliens of London

Lexi stepped out of the TARDIS but came to a sudden halt when she saw where they had landed. “Um… Doctor?”

“What?” He called from inside the TARDIS.

“Since when is Powell Estate somewhere amazing?” There was a clattering sound and the slapping of the Doctor’s shoes against the grating before the door creaked open and he popped his head out with a frown.

“This isn’t where I was bringing us.”

“We really need to work on your driving, Doctor.” Lexi sighed, shaking her head in amusement. “Well, since we’re here, we had might as well go up and see Alec. Maybe Rose and Jackie.”

“But-”

“Come along, Doctor. You’ve met my brothers and Bobby, now you get to meet my London Family.” The Doctor made a noise of protest, but Lexi pulled him out of the TARDIS. “Besides, if you piloted us here, it must be for a reason, right?”

“Fine.” The Time Lord grumped, locking the door to the TARDIS before following her up to the apartment she shared with Alec.

Taking a breath, Lexi unlocked the door and stepped through, the Doctor right behind her. “Alec? I’m back.”

When there was no response, Lexi moved further into the apartment, peeking into the bedrooms and coming up empty before heading into the living room. Sprawled out on the sofa, Alec looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His facial hair had begun growing in and Lexi was fairly certain that he hadn’t showered in days either. Sending a confused look to the Doctor, Lexi did a quick sweep of the room and was shocked when she saw research about herself and even missing posters with her name on them.

“It seems they’ve been looking for you.”

“What’s the date today? If we’re on the day after we saw my brothers, then I’ve been gone almost a month… I guess I’m not used to civilian life. I forgot to mention to Alec where I was.”

“It’s the same day as when we left Sioux Falls, Lex.”

Lexi sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “He’s gonna be so mad when he wakes up.”

“Mmmh…” Alex stirred on the sofa and Lexi tensed, readying herself for the argument that was going to happen.

“Alec?” Lexi called softly, stepping back into the Doctor when Alec jerked awake, eyes wild.

“Lexi?” He gasped, his mouth agape with shock.

“Hey.” Lexi winced when she saw the rage in his eyes as he jumped to his feet, fists clenched.

“Hey?! We don’t hear from you for weeks, and all you say is ‘hey’?”

“I’m sorry Alec, I didn’t realize I would be gone so long.”

“You-you didn’t realize?! Where the hell even were you, Lexi? Your brothers had no idea where you were, which was a giant shock to me, especially since you never told me that Dean was alive!”

“I honestly didn’t know until yesterday, Alec. I promise.” Alec stared at her for a moment before shifting his gaze to the Doctor, narrowing his eyes at the man.

“And who’s this, then?”

“The Doctor, he’s my… partner.”

“Like… your boyfriend?” Both blushed but shook their heads.

“No, nothing like that.”

“Then what, Lex? Cause you’ve never done this before.”

“He’s my hunting partner,” Lexi explained, twisting the truth. Although they didn’t kill, they did still end up saving a lot of lives and stopping a lot of evil. “I met him the day after the explosion and I ended up teaming up with him on a hunt in the area.”

“But you didn’t take anything with you, Lex! None of your gear and none of your clothing!” Alec exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “And how the hell did you even get here so fast? Sam called me not long after you left with Bobby. There’s no way you could have made it here in time, unless…”

“We’re not Demons or any other creature, Alec.”

“How can I be sure?”

“If you weren’t, you would have tested me when you woke up,” Lexi said dryly, rolling her eyes.

“I-”

“Look, be skeptical all you like, but it’s me. Okay?”

“Tell me something only Lexi would know.”

The blonde scoffed but complied. “You had a very big crush on Dean when we were kids, one that I’m fairly certain you still have.”

“Fine,” Alec grumbled before reaching for his phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Rose and Jackie, of course! They’ve been worried sick about you.”

“Can we wait a bit? I kinda want to catch up with you first.”

“Oka-”

“I knew it!” The trio whirled around and saw Jackie Tyler standing in the entrance of the room.

“Son of a bitch,” Lexi muttered before plastering a smile on her face. “Jackie, hey-”

“The hours we’ve sat here, days and weeks, without a word. I thought you were dead! Where were you?”

“Travelling,” Lexi replied automatically, not wanting Jackie to know of The Life. “After I lost my job, I decided that I needed some time to myself, so I went travelling with a good friend of mine.

“What the hell does that mean, travelling? That’s no sort of answer!”

“That’s what I was doing, Jackie.”

“When your passport’s still in the drawer? It’s just one lie after another.”

“So you went through my things?”

“We were looking for clues, Lexi! You disappeared! No call, no nothing.” Jackie exclaimed shrilly.

“I didn’t realize how long I’d been away, Jackie. I sort of… lost myself in my travels and didn’t realize how long I’d been gone until I listened to my messages from my family back home.”

“Where did you go?"

“Why do you want to know?”

‘Why won't you tell me where you've been?’

“Actually, it's my fault. I sort of er... employed Lexi as my companion.”

“What sort of relationship, huh? You using her for-”

“No!” The duo said at the same time, shaking their heads.

“Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles, as Alec said, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? Forty? Forty-five? What, did you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?”

“I am a Doctor!”

“Prove it. Stitch this, mate!” Jackie drew her hand back and slapped the Doctor hard, making his head turn.

“What the hell, Jackie?!” Lexi exclaimed, grabbing the woman’s arm and dragging her into the kitchen. “What the hell was that?”

“We were all so worried about you, Lexi. Rose came home and was going on and on about how you’d gone off with some man!”

“I’m twenty-nine, Jackie. I’ve been taking care of myself since I was little, I can handle myself.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to, sweetheart. We care about you, Lexi”

After her moment with Jackie in the kitchen, Lexi had followed where Alec had told her the Doctor had gone. The roof.

When she finally stepped through the door, she saw the Doctor sitting on some of the machinery. Smiling to herself, Lexi sat down next to him. “I can’t really tell either of them about this. As hunters, we accept the supernatural, but aliens tend to be too much.” Lexi laughed, shaking her head. “And Jackie… she’d never believe it.”

“Do you always make a point of not telling civilians?”

“It’s better if they live in ignorance.” Lexi sighed, “They tend not to go looking for trouble if they do.”

“Well, if it's this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?” The Doctor asked, bringing them back to the argument earlier.

“I don’t think so.” Lexi replied, “I don’t like hurting them, but a civie life isn’t for me.”

“Well, they’re not coming with us.”

Lexi let out a laugh, shaking her head. “No chance.”

“I don't do families.” The Doctor shuddered, bringing his hand to the cheek Jackie had slapped.

“She slapped you!” Lexi’s laughter increased.

“Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother.” The Doctor complained with a frown.

“Your face!”

“It hurt!”

“You're hilarious.” Lexi calmed herself, shaking her head in amusement, only to freeze when she caught up to what he had been saying. “When you say nine hundred years?”

“That's my age.”

Lexi’s jaw dropped, “You're nine hundred years old?”

“Yeah.”

The blonde snorted, “Jackie was right, that is one hell of an age gap.” Lexi paused, humming. “You know, usually the conversations I have with my brothers would have us committed to an asylum. Yet, here I am, still not used to half of the things you throw at me. At this point, I think our conversations might be crazier, not that I would ever tell them about-” There was a deep horn and a spaceship, trailing black smoke passes overhead, seeming to be headed for the city. It missed Tower Bridge, weaving around St Paul's, then with a nasty backfire and a splutter, dove for the Thames, taking out the Clock Tower. Big Ben chimed once as the spaceship crashed into the river. The Doctor and Lexi watched a plume of black smoke rise into the air on the horizon. “Oh, that's just not fair.”

 

||||||||||

 

The Doctor had pulled Lexi from the roof and into the streets, the duo quickly making their way as far as they could until the roadblocks stopped them from going any further.

“It's blocked off.” The Doctor hummed, taking in the sights of angry cabbies and dutiful soldiers keeping the public away from the ‘threat’.

“We're miles from the centre. The city must be gridlocked. The whole of London must be closing down.”

“I know. I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!” Lexi turned and frowned at the Doctor.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” 

“Nope.”

“Do you recognize the ship?”

“Nope.”

“Do you know why it crashed?”

“Nope.”

Lexi scoffed, “Oh, I'm so glad I've got you.”

“I bet you are.” The Doctor grinned, “This is what I travel for, Lex. To see history happening right in front of us.”

“Well, let's go and see it. Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS.”

The Doctor shook his head and Lexi’s shoulders slumped. “Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don't want to shove another one on top.”

“Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice.”

“You'd be surprised.” The Doctor said, looking over at her. “Emergency like this, there'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me. The TARDIS stays where it is.”

Lexi sighed. “So history's happening and we're stuck here.”

“Yes, we are.” 

“Ugh, I hate being a civie.” Lexi groaned, sending the Doctor a look of annoyance. “I guess there’s only what everyone else does at a time like this. We watch it on TV.”

The Doctor looked miffed as he let Lexi take his hand and drag him away from the scene.

 

||||||||||

 

The Doctor and Lexi sat squished together on the large, plush chair that Alec had purchased specifically for Lexi when she moved in, watching News 24 for in.

“ _ Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control widespread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene. _ ”

“ _ The police are urging the public not to panic. There's a helpline number on the screen right now if you're worried about friends or family. _ ” Tom Hitchinson reported. Humming, Lexi plucked the remote out of the Doctor’s hand and changed the channel to AMNN, an American channel.

“ _ The military are on the lookout for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American airspace have been grounded. _ ”

The Doctor sent Lexi a mock glare and snatched the remote from her, changing it back to the News 24. “ _ The army is sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find. _ ”

Lexi took the remote from him once again and changed the channel back to AMNN. “ _ The President will address the nation live from the White House, but the Secretary-General has asked that people watch the skies. _ ”

On the other side of the room, Jackie chatted loudly with Alec and his father, making Lexi annoyed. She went on and on about how if Rose did something like Lexi did, she would lock her in her room forever. Growing more and more frustrated, Lexi nudged the Doctor, who turned slightly to yell at them.

“Oi, I'm trying to listen.”

The Doctor changed the channel back to News 24, “ _ -His current whereabouts. News is just coming in. We can go to Tom on the Embankment. _ ” 

“ _ They've found a body. It's unconfirmed, but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore. A body of some sort has been found inside the wreckage of the spacecraft.  _

“Oh, guess who asked me out. Billy Crewe.” Lexi rolled her eyes at the conversation happening across the room. How could Jackie and her annoying friends be drinking and gossiping while history was going on just outside? While the gossiping went on across the room, a toddler Lexi had never seen before waddled over and climbed onto the Doctor’s lap, gurgling happily as he tried to grab the remote from him.

“ _ -brought to the nearest shore. Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live here in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts are yet unknown. The roads in Central London are being- _ ”

“ _ And when you've stuck your fins on, you can cover the whole lot in buttercream. _ ”

“Dude!” Lexi exclaimed, snatching the remote from the Doctor and toddler.

“ _ Oh, look at that. Then ice it any colour you want. Here's one I made a little bit earlier. And look at that, your very own spaceship ready to eat. And for something a little extra special- _ ”

Sending the Doctor a look, Lexi switched the channel back to News 24. “ _ -Albion Hospital. We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything, but the body has been brought here- Albion Hospital. The road's closed off. It's the closest to the river. _ ”

Growing annoyed with the child that sat on the Doctor’s lap, Lexi scooped him up and set him on the floor, prodding him in the direction of the gossiping adults. “Go on.”

“ _ I'm being told that General Asquith is now entering the hospital. The building's been evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body contained inside those walls. _ ”

The scene on the television changed to Andrew Marr standing outside of Number 10 Downing Street. “ _ Mystery still surrounds there whereabouts of the Prime Minister. He's not been seen since the emergency began. The opposition are criticising his lack of leadership, and. Hold on. _ ” An official car pulled up and a portly man got out, nodding to the crowd before heading into the building. “ _ Oh, that's Joseph Green, MP for Hartley Dale. He's Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionary. With respect, hardly the most important person right now. _ ”

The Doctor stood abruptly, making Lexi tip over - she had been leaning against him - with a frown. Shooting out of the chair, Lexi followed the Doctor, eyes narrowed as she thought the worst.

“And where do you think you're going?”

“Nowhere.” The Doctor fibbed, making Lexi’s heart sink. She had hoped he would never lie to her. “It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all.”

“Right. There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just wandering.”

“Nothing to do with me. It's not an invasion. That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything. It's perfect.”

Lexi raised an eyebrow, “So?”

“So maybe this is it. First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand.” The Doctor grinned at Lexi, “You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with Alec and the rest of your London Family.”

“Promise you won't disappear?” Lexi asked, her voice small. She had been abandoned too often and she wasn’t sure that she could deal with him leaving her as well, not after she’d opened herself up to him like she did. The Doctor seemed to know what she was thinking and reached into his pocket.

“Tell you what. Tardis key.” He placed a key in the palm of Lexi’s hand, grinning at her as he always did. “It's about time you had one. See you later.”

Sighing, Lexi turned and made her way back into the flat, pausing at the door to her room. After considering her door for a moment, Lexi entered her room in search of an empty necklace chain she’s had for years. Upon locating it, Lexi threaded the chain through the hole in the key and put the necklace on, smiling as she ran her fingers over it.

Upon exiting her room, Lexi rolled her eyes when she saw the group in the living room talking animatedly about the ‘Martians’ that had come to Earth. She couldn’t believe that her life had become so horribly civilian before she had gone with the Doctor. What had her life come to?

“Here's to the Martians!” Jackie cheered, raising her wine glass.

“The Martians!” Everyone cheered in reply as Lexi rolled her eyes and downed the whiskey she had poured a moment before, ignoring the celebration they seemed to be having them.

“ _ Crisis, with no head of state. Since the Royal Family have been evacuated- _ ”

Lexi froze when she saw Rose and Mickey enter, their faces showing awe when they saw her. “Oh shit.” The huntress muttered to herself as Rose walked closer to her, clearly unable to get over her shock.

“Rosie, hey.” Rose stared at Lexi for a moment before grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her into the kitchen.

“You’ve been gone for weeks, Lexi! Alec went crazy and kept accusing me of helping in your disappearance! Do you know how many times I came home to letters through the letterbox about how it’s my fault you were gone?”

“I didn't think I'd be gone so long, Rose.” Lexi sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “I just wanted some time away from everything.”

“And I waited for you, Lex. Almost a month, waiting for you and the Doctor to come back.”

“Hold on.” Alec interrupted as Jackie entered, clearly interested in the gossip happening in the kitchen. “You knew about the Doctor? Why didn't you tell me?”

Mickey shut the serving hatch and the door so no one could hear them, clearly ready to get Lexi into more trouble with their ragtag family “Yeah, yeah. Why not, Lexi? Huh? How could Rose tell him where you went?”

“Fuck off, Mickey.” Lexi snapped, glaring at him.

“Tell me now,” Alec demanded.

“Might as well, 'cos you're stuck here. The Doctor's gone. Just now. That box thing just faded away.”

Lexi asked in confusion, trying desperately to ignore the smug expression on Mickey’s face as Rose stood by him, not saying a word. “What do you mean?”

“He's left you. Some boyfriend he turned out to be.” Lexi shook her head and bolted outside and down the stairs as the others chased after her.

“He wouldn't just go, he promised me,” Lexi said to herself as she looked around where they had landed.

“Oh, he's dumped you, Lexi. Sailed off into space. How does it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it.” Whirling around, Lexi slammed her fist into Mickey’s face, sending him to the ground.

“Stop trying to act like I have ever meant anything to you, Mickey. I’ve known you for what? Five minutes?” Lexi scoffed, “I understand that Rose would be upset with me, but how dare you even try to pretend to care.”

“What're you two chimps going on about? What's going on? What's this Doctor done now?” Jackie asked in confusion as Alec looked over Lexi’s knuckles to see if she’s hurt herself - she hadn’t.

“He's vamoosed.” Mickey spat as he got up, sending Lexi a glare.

“He didn’t, because he gave me this.” Lexi pulled on the chain of her necklace to show the key he’d given her. “He's not my boyfriend, you ass. He's better than that. He's much more important than-” The TARDIS key began to glow and Lexi could hear and see the TARDIS beginning to materialize. “I said so. Alec! Jackie! Guys, go inside. Hey, don't stand there, just go inside. Just, go.” When neither moved, Lexi groaned. “Oh, Fuck.”

The Tardis materialized and Lexi grimaced as she felt the questioning looks of everyone but Rose, who was still quite silent.

“How'd you do that, then?”

Shaking her head, Lexi entered the TARDIS to warn the Doctor of the presence of their unwanted guests.

“Alright, so I lied. I went and had a look. But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on, so I thought let's go and have a look-”

“Alec and Jackie are here.”

The Doctor groaned. “Oh, that's just what I need. Don't you dare make this place domestic.”

“You ruined our lives, Doctor.” Mickey snapped as he and Rose entered the TARDIS. Lexi honestly wanted to shoot him for being a condescending ass, but she held back for Rose. “They thought she was dead. Rose was almost a murder suspect because of you.”

“You see what I mean? Domestic.” Lexi sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

“I bet you don't even remember her name.”

“Rose.” The Doctor answered automatically before his face changed to one of amusement. “Which makes you Ricky.”

“It's Mickey.”

“No, it's Ricky.” Lexi tried fighting the grin that was creeping onto her face.

“I think I know my own name.”

“You think you know your own name? How stupid are you?” 

“You walked right into that one, you moron.” Lexi snorted as she saw Jackie and Alec peeking into the TARDIS, making her pale. 

“Mum, don't!” Rose called, running after her and Alec as Lexi swore and turned to face the Doctor.

“Don't go anywhere. Don't start a fight!” Lexi bolted out of the TARDIS to see that Alec, Jackie and Rose were already inside of the building. Groaning in annoyance, Lexi ran back into the TARDIS. “That was a real spaceship?” She asked, coming to a sudden halt next to the Doctor.

“Yep.”

“So it's all a pack of lies? What is it, then? Are they invading?”

“Funny way to invade, putting the world on red alert,” Mickey commented, making Lexi grimace. She had forgotten he was there.

“Good point! So, what're they up to?”

While the Doctor fiddled with the various wires and such under the grating at the console, Lexi lounged on one of the coral structures, her eyes narrowed at Mickey as he grated on her nerves.

“So, what're you doing down there?” Mickey asked, making Lexi roll her eyes. He had already explained his thought process as he climbed down there before, but she supposed that Mickey was simply too dull to comprehend.

“Ricky-”

“Mickey.”

The Doctor smirked sarcastically, “Ricky. If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?”

“I suppose not.”

“Well, shut it, then.”

“Some friend you've got,” Mickey muttered to Lexi, who rolled her eyes.

“If you don’t like it then leave. There’s nothing here for you.”

“Why? So you can disappear again?” Lexi rolled her eyes at his tone. “Rose was going out of her mind with worry, you know-”

“I’ve known the two of you for all of three months, Mickey. You’re both almost a decade younger than me and this condescending tone of yours is really grating on my last fucking nerve.” Leaning closer to him, Lexi fixed him with a hard look. “You say anything like you did before to me again, or do anything to hurt that sweet girl and I’ll put a fucking bullet in you on principle. Got it?”

“You don’t even have a gu-” Lexi whipped out her gun from her waistband and flipped off the safety, cocking it as she aimed the barrel between his eyes. “Ohmygod!”

Mickey scrambled away from Lexi as she glared at him coldly. “Do we understand each other?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Excellent.” Lexi’s demeanour changed as she uncocked the gun and put the safety back on before sliding it back into the waistband of her jeans.

“Got it!” The Doctor popped up from where he’d been under the grating, somehow unaware of what had been going on. Hopping from the coral structure, Lexi followed the Doctor as he danced around the console to the monitor, “Ha, ha! Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go. Hold on. Come on.” Lexi leaned against the Doctor as they looked over the trajectory of the crashed ship. “That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a slingshot 'round the Earth before it landed.”

“So… it came from Earth?” Lexi concluded, tilting her head to look up at the Doctor.

“Exactly. It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?” The Doctor mused as he stepped away from Lexi, earning a huff from the blonde. While he went to tinker with something, Lexi sat back on the jump seat as Mickey fiddled with the dials on the scanner, making television channels appear.

“How many channels do you get?” 

“All the basic packages.” The Doctor replied absently.

“You get sports channels?” 

“Yes, I get the football.” The Doctor and Lexi rolled their eyes at Mickey before the Time Lord straightened, staring at the screen. “Hold on, I know that lot.” 

“ _ It is looking likely that the Government's bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space. _ ” The trio watched as a group of people entered the building.

“UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce.” The Doctor supplied seeing Lexi’s questioning face. “Good people.”

“How do you know them?” 

“'Cos he's worked for them,” Mickey announced, a smug expression on his face that Lexi really wanted to slap off. “Oh yeah, don't think Rose and I sat on our backsides for a month, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead.”

“That's nice. Good boy, Ricky.” The Doctor said sarcastically.

“If you know them, why don't you go and help?”

“They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days.” The Doctor replied with a shrug. “Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover. And er, I'd better keep the Tardis out of sight. Ricky, you've got a car. You can do some driving.” 

“Where to?”

“The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship.” 

The trio exited the TARDIS, only to be blinded by a spotlight shining down at them from a helicopter that hovered above them. “Do not move! Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads.” Police cars and Saxon armoured personnel carriers surrounded them and Lexi sighed in annoyance as she saw Mickey take off from behind them.

The doors to the apartment building flew open, Alec, Rose and Jackie bolting out.

“Lexi!” Alec cried out, only for the three of them to be stopped by soldiers.

“Lexi!”

“Raise your hands above your head.” A police officer commanded, making Lexi sigh in annoyance. She wasn’t very fond of law enforcement. “You are under arrest.”

“Take me to your leader.”

“I will shoot you.” Lexi hissed in annoyance as they were led to one of the cars. Once inside, Lexi raised an eyebrow. The car was much different than the police cars she’d been in back in the States. “This is a bit posh. If I knew being arrested in Britain was going to be like this, I would have done it months ago.”

“We're not being arrested, we're being escorted.” The Doctor replied, making Lexi narrow her eyes at him.

“Where to?”

“Where'd you think?” The Doctor laughed, “Downing Street.”

“You're kidding.”

“I'm not.”

“10 Downing Street?”

“That's the one.”

“Hunting with you is far more glamorous.” Lexi mused before getting back to her earlier line of questioning. “How come?”

“I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, er, noticed.”

“Now they need you?”

“Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?”

“Patrick Moore?” Lexi teased with a cheeky grin.

“Apart from him.”

“Oh, don't you just love it.”

“I'm telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?”

Lexi snorted, “How should I know? I don’t keep track of that crap here.”

When they arrived at 10 Downing Street, Lexi steeled herself and stepped out of the car behind the Doctor, keeping herself next to him as he waved cheerfully at the press. Rolling her eyes at him, Lexi laced their fingers together and pulled him away from the car towards the door.

“It’s a fucking circus here.” She grumbled, the Doctor shaking with laughter as they entered the building. Looking around the foyer, Lexi saw many official-looking individuals milling about.

“Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times.” A man in a suit announced to the room as he handed a card to the Doctor. “Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companion doesn't have clearance.” 

“I don't go anywhere without her.” The Doctor insisted, his tone leaving no room for argument, even though the man before them didn’t seem to understand that she was more knowledgeable than perhaps some of the people in that room.

“You're the code nine, not her. I'm sorry, Doctor.” The man said, not seeming sorry at all. “It is the Doctor, isn't it? She'll have to stay outside.” 

“She's staying with me.” The Doctor insisted again.

“Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let her in and that's a fact.” 

“It's all right,” Lexi said, rolling her eyes at the bureaucratic red tape bullshit that Lexi had been dealing with for most of her life. “You go.”

The Doctor gave Lexi a look that told her just how frustrated he was with the situation as an older woman approached them with an anxious expression on her face. “Excuse me. Are you the Doctor?” 

“Sure.”

“Not now. We're busy. Can't you go home?” The man in the suit complained in frustration, giving the woman an annoyed look.

“I just need a word in private.” The woman insisted desperately. 

“I suppose so.” The Doctor squeezed Lexi’s hand, looking down at her. “Don't get in any trouble.” 

When the Doctor was in the room, leaving Lexi with the suited man and the anxious woman.

“You haven't got clearance. Now leave it.” The man turned to Lexi, looking over her as if she were nothing more than street trash -- a look she had received frequently in her life. “I'm going to have to leave you with security.”

“It's all right. I'll look after her. Let me be of some use.” The woman linked arms with Lexi and led her down a hallway, her grip tight and her body language anxious. “Walk with me. Just keep walking. That's right. Don't look round.” She pulled out an ID card and showed it  “Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North. This friend of yours, he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?” 

“Why do you want to know?” The woman, Harriet Jones, started crying and Lexi grimaced as they entered the cabinet room. Letting go of Lexi’s arm, Harriet hurried over to the strange human-like thing and brought it back to Lexi, who cringed when she saw that it was actually human skin and clothes, but without all of the insides.

“They turned the body into a suit. A disguise for the thing inside!”

Lexi grimaced before going into hunter mode, “It's all right. I believe you. It's alien. They must have some serious technology behind this.” Leaving the woman’s side, Lexi started searching about the room for any clue as to what had carved out the human from their skin. “If we could find it, we could use it.” Biting her lip, Lexi opened one of the cupboards, only to jump back when a body tumbled out, landing in a heap on the floor. “Holy fuck. Is that-”

“Harriet, for God's sake. This has gone beyond a joke. You cannot just wander.” The man from the front hall barged in, only to freeze when he saw the body on the floor. “Oh, my God. That's the Prime Minister!”

“Oh! Has someone been naughty?” The trio whipped around to see a larger woman standing in the doorway with a smirk on her face and a malicious gleam in her eyes.

“That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!” The man tried to rationalize, but Lexi knew differently. She’d found the monster, or at least one of them.

“And who told you that, hmm? Me.” The woman reached up to her hairline and began pulling something across her forehead, a strange light emanating from the opening. Turning her head away from the bright light, Lexi tried to remember the layout of the surrounding area from what she’d seen on the way to the Cabinet Room. They needed an exit.

When the light was gone, Lexi gasped at the large, green creature that stood before them as it grabbed the man with its massive taloned hands and pushed him up against the wall.

“Fucking hell.”


End file.
